James, Jenna, Diana and the Giant Peach
by judygumm
Summary: CentiSpiderFanGirl1 known as Diana requested me to write a story of herself and I in James and the Giant Peach. Diana owns herself and Miss Butterfly. I own myself (Jenna) and my OC Dragonfly. I wonder what it would be like to be in James and the Giant Peach.
1. Meeting New Friends

_I've been very busy writing on my other stories. But after reading CentiSpiderFanGirl1's (Diana) story "James, Diana, Danielle and the Giant Peach," I told her how great the story was and she requested me to write a story of her, Butterfly, and I in "James and the Giant Peach." I also added my OC Dragonfly in the story to see how he and Butterfly will act around Diana and I. Enjoy this story! I will add chapter 2 soon!_

I was walking in a village in England and I was looking for someone to befriend with. I was butting heads with my family for years. I thought it would be best to leave and go somewhere new. And that's when I came to England. Even though I graduated from high school, I don't know what I want to do with my future. I thought England would be a good place to start.

I have long dark wavy blonde hair that goes past my shoulder blades, an oval face, and blue-grey eyes. I am wearing a reddish pink maxi dress, with a geometric design showing hourglasses and a slit in the skirt exposing my left leg. I wore a jean jacket over the dress. I even have a twisted cream-colored headband with tiny silver beads that are twisted too, and they have tiny white rosettes. I also have silver dangling earrings, a bronze necklace with a pink rose. I have tan sandals with gold beads, a silver bracelet with an angel and a charm that says 'faith' on the left wrist and I'm carrying a zebra bag with personal items. On my right finger was my class ring, with an amethyst gem.

My real name is Jenna and I am nineteen years old.

"Boy, I wonder where I should go?" As I thought about it, I bumped into another girl who is seventeen years old. She had brown eyes, pale skin, an oval face, and long brown hair with blonde and red headlights. She wore a purple t-shirt, with a pink jacket, black pants and black boots. She also had black earrings, a silver necklace and a purple bracelet. She looked like a good person to befriend with so I trusted her.

"Excuse me," I said as I smiled. "My name is Jenna. I came here to England to look for a happier life. Who might you be?"

The girl smiled at me. "My name's Diana, I came to England to do the same thing like you're doing, finding a better life too."

I was surprised I was not the only one who was trying to find a better life. Diana was the same like me. I guess she did have a life that was really hard. There was so much fighting at the house, I knew I had to leave and never come back. We talked for a while about not getting along with our parents and our problems that were too private to talk about.

"Why don't we stick together," I said.

Diana's brown eyes were widened in surprise.

"You want me to go with you?"

"Of course," I said smiling at her. "We might find a bright future if we stick together."

"It's a deal," Diana smiled.

So our plan was to find a place to settle in. We walked for hours, which felt like forever. We hoped someone would at least notice us and find us a place to live, but sadly, we couldn't find anyone to help us. We ended up at a house on top on the hill. We hid behind a wall and saw two women, one fat and one skinny. They were being nasty to a young boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He was around seven years old.

"Who are they?" Diana asked, staring at the women in disgust.

"I don't know," I said. ""But I don't trust them one bit."

We heard a rustling in the bushes. We turned around.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Excuse me ladies," A male voice caused us to jump and scream. We turned around and there was an old man. "I'm sorry if I frightened you."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm known as the magic man," he said. "I see you two need some help."

"Of course, Jenna and I could really use your help," Diana said. "We had problems with our families at home and we were really unhappy."

"Yes, we want to find a home to make our lives fairer and happier as well."

"Well, I believe I have something that will help you," He took out some green things. "With these things," He gave them to us. "Marvelous things will happen but don't let them get away or they'll work on something else, understand?"

"Yes," I said.

"Good," He said. "Now I'm going to help the boy." He left and went to help the boy.

"How did he know we wanted help?" I asked.

"I don't know," Diana said. "Maybe he heard about our troubles."

"Maybe those tongues could be useful," I looked at the tongue on my palm.

We walked around the hill, and out of the blue, there was a peach. It was the size of a normal sized house.

"What the?" I cried looking at the peach.

"It's huge!" Diana was amazed. "But it does look delicious."

"We could eat some of it," I said. I took out a piece and Diana grabbed another piece and we started eating the fruit. It was tasty! As we ate, the crocodile tongues jumped in the pieces and we ate them.

Suddenly, Diana and I noticed the hole at the bottom of the peach and it was big enough for the two of us to fit in.

"How curious," I said. "Wanna take a look in there Diana?"

Diana smiled. "Why not? There might be something inside?"

"Let's take a look in there, and have some adventure!"

I went in first and Diana came in after me. After she got in, the hole closed up and we were trapped.

"We're trapped like rats!" I cried.

"What are we gonna do?" Diana cried.

"Maybe we could climb in and see what in there," I suggested and I started crawling in the dark tunnel. As we crawled I started thinking about my life back home, my family was ignoring me and all I wanted in my life was attention and love. I had to leave to find a new life, until I could find it in my heart to forgive them. Diana told me she had a rough life too with her family. I want to ask her about what happened, but I don't think I'll ask her now. I'll have to ask her later.

"Do you hear that Diana?" I sensed that we weren't alone.

"I guess… I hear voices." Diana said.

"I guess we aren't alone."

"I must say Mr. Centipede, do you have to smoke that cigar in here?" a British accent said in an annoyed tone. "It's not healthy to smoke inside."

"Centipede?" Diana raised one eyebrow. "Isn't that a bug or just a last name?"

I nodded.

"Don't matter hoppy," the voice with a Brooklyn accent known as Centipede said. "I got much right to smoke. Too bad a grasshopper like you, don't smoke."

"Mr. Grasshopper and Centipede," a deep Scottish accent said warning them. "Ye two better not argue so much or else them hags Sponge and Spiker could 'ear us!"

"Yeah right Dragonfly," said the voice known as Centipede. "Ya know, ya look funny wearin' that skirt!"

"For y'ur info'mation Centipede," Dragonfly said in annoyance. "It's not a skirt, it's called a kilt. It's the way the men in Scotland wear on traditional occasions."

"Dragonfly," I said, "From Scotland huh? Interesting."

"Take it easy men," a female voice with a soft French accent said gently. "I'm sure we're safe as well. If a human were to see us, he would scream his head off and run."

"That is a good point Miss Butterfly," the male British accent known as Mr. Grasshopper said. "No one has seen us, we need to find a way to leave this hill."

"Butterfly?" Diana raised her eyebrow. "She sounds interesting, if she was really a butterfly, she would be a really cool friend with girl power."

"Yeah Diana, but is it just me, or is this a dream?" I asked. "Things are getting really weird."

"I don't think so."

"Well, since I'm grown woman," the voice known as Butterfly said. "I can do whatever I wanted to do. Besides, women all have the right to be independent and know what they want. I'm completely different from my family."

"I would agree with Miss Butterfly," a smooth female French accent said it was deeper than Miss Butterfly's voice. "She does look different from other butterflies and she knows what she wants to do in her future."

"Ya know Angel Fangs," the voice known as Centipede said. "You're very good lookin', and we should go on a date sometime, why don't ya give me a kiss."

There was a loud smack.

"Ow!" Centipede yelled.

"Stop it!" the voice with the French accent said. "My name is not Angel Fangs! It is Miss Spider!"

We giggled at Centipede flirting with Miss Spider, but she when she said her name, we gasped.

"Wait!" I whispered. "A spider?"

"Could there be anymore bugs?" Diana asked.

"AHH!" Another male voice screamed. "A SPIDER!"

With his scream we jumped.

"Guess someone has arachnophobia," I said.

"Don't sweat it Earthworm!" Centipede said. "She's very hot!"

I snickered when he said hot.

"Sounds like he has a crush," Diana said.

"Oh, such rude behavior!" Another female voice said. "That was not polite to call a woman you just met with that word!"

"But…" Centipede said.

"Thank you Mrs. Ladybug," Miss Spider said.

"Mrs. Ladybug?" Diana asked. "This is getting so weird."

I noticed there was a hole below us. I looked down and noticed there was something weird about the creatures that were talking.

"You know I have a funny feeling…." Butterfly mused.

"What is it Miss Butterfly?" Dragonfly asked.

"I have a funny feeling we're being watched," she said. "I think someone is in here too."

"I could hear someone WHISPERING!" Earthworm yelled.

I leaned in the hole more to see whom these voices belong to. Diana wanted to see this, and without thinking she bumped into me and we both fell in.

"WWAAAHHHH!" We screamed. We both landed on the voices that are Dragonfly, Butterfly, and Centipede.

"WHAT'S THAT?" Dragonfly, Butterfly, and Centipede yelled at the same time. I looked around for Diana and it was so dark, I was as blind as a bat.

"Hey Glowworm!" the voice known as Centipede yelled. "Turn on the light!"

"A Glowworm!" Diana and I cried at the same time.

When the light came on, I looked at Diana and she wasn't hurt at all, I sighed in relief as I stood up, and ran towards her and hugged her.

"Oh Diana, thank goodness you're okay!"

"I'm happy you're okay too!" she said as she hugged me back.

We ended our hug and looked around. Our jaws dropped and screamed. "AHHHHH!"

It turned out the voices weren't really humans, they were bugs, and I mean GIANT bugs. There was a male grasshopper, a male centipede, a female ladybug, a male dragonfly, a male earthworm, a female butterfly, a female spider, and a female glowworm.

The one with the British accent was a towering, elderly dark green grasshopper clothed in a black coat, a white dress shirt, light grey pants, and white shoes with a monocle on his right eye. The snake creature was a blind light brown earthworm and he has black glasses over his eyes, with a white collar, and a red bow. The bug with the Brooklyn accent is a yellow-orange centipede with blue eyes, with a cigar in his mouth and he is clothed in a white shirt, a flat green cap, brown overalls, and he has brown boots on his feet. The tall, slender male dragonfly with the deep Scottish accent had blue-green skin, hazel eyes, four light blue wings outlined in green, six arms, short red hair with a beard and mustache and a green tail with a dark blue tip. He is dressed in a white dress shirt, a dark blue coat, a black belt with a gold buckle, a plaid kilt, a cap with a green feather, and tunic with the colors: blue, green, red, and yellow. Two golden broaches, a grey sporran with black tassels, white knee length socks, dark blue garters at the socks, and black shoes. There is a ladybug with a Scottish accent wearing a bright red hat with a black ribbon with white dots and a flower, black hair, a spotted top over her light blue dress, she has blue skin with black dress shoes and she is holding a red purse. The female spider who has the French accent had a white face with four green eyes with her black hair in a bob, a white and black striped abdomen with a roll of thread, tall black boots at the end of her six legs, black gloves on her hands, with a light green bandana around her neck and a dark blue beret. The female butterfly is slender with blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. She has neatly curled antennas, dark pink lips, pure white skin, purple eye shadow and black and orange wings. She is wearing a black and purple striped dress, a black belt with a golden buckle, with dark, purple gloves on her four hands, black high heeled boots, a purple scarf and purple beret. There was also a glowworm in a lantern with white hair, pale blue skin, a brown dress with a grey twisted shawl with a plastic sun, ruby earrings, she has a light bulb on her tail and she is holding a pair of spectacles.

Diana and I stared at those giant bugs in horror. I felt light headed, and I fell to the floor and fainted. Only Diana fell back and was still conscious and watched me faint on the floor.

"Humans," Butterfly examined Diana and I carefully, well I was knocked out on the floor.

"Is Blondie dead?" Centipede asked.

"Centipede!" Butterfly snapped as she glared at him. "She's not dead! She fainted."

"What else could I do while she's knocked out?"

"I suggest you flirt with Miss Spider!"

"T-t-t-that's a lie, you don't know if I like her!" Centipede blushed.

"Whatever you say, I can see the truth clearly," Butterfly held out one of her hands and helped Diana up to her feet. "Don't listen to that annoying Centipede."

"I heard that!"

"That's okay," Diana smiled as she was back on her feet.

As Butterfly pulled Diana to her feet at the same time, Dragonfly placed his arms underneath my knees and upper back. He picked me up and held me in bridal style.

"So lass," Dragonfly said as he adjusted his arms as he held me. "What's yer name?"

"Oh, I'm Diana."

"And what's 'er name?" Dragonfly asked looking down at me in his arms.

"Oh that's Jenna."

Butterfly walked up to Dragonfly and she stroked my hair with her gloved hand.

"Poor girl," Butterfly said.

"Poor dearie," Mrs. Ladybug said. "She must have fainted when she saw us."

"She's so gonna scream when she sees us," Earthworm said.

"It's best if we don't scare her," Mr. Grasshopper said.

My eyes slowly opened and my vision was blurry.

"Hey Diana, are you here?"

"Yeah Jenna, I am."

"I just had the most strangest dream and you were in there too. There was a strange man that gave us those green thingies, a giant peach, and there were giant bugs and…"

My vision came back to normal, and I saw Diana standing next to a giant butterfly, a giant ladybug, and a giant grasshopper.

"What the?" My eyes widened. "Diana is this a dream?"

Diana shook her head no.

"If this is not a dream," I realized that someone was holding me in his arms. "Then… who… is… holding…me?"

I slowly turned my head and looked at the person who is holding me was none other than the giant dragonfly dressed in traditional Scottish clothes. He gave me a small smile.

"EEEKKKKKKK!" I screamed.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Dragonfly screamed and dropped me on the ground. I scooted backwards in fright.

"Easy, easy, easy," Dragonfly said, trying to calm me down. "I'm not gonna hurt ye!"

I jumped to me feet and started running around. I crashed into the other bugs and screamed and I crashed into someone tall and there was the giant centipede smoking a cigar.

"Hi!" he said.

"Ahhhhhh!" I kept screaming and ran. I tripped over Earthworm and screamed.

"D-d-d-d-d-don't y-y-you dare e-e-eat me!" I screamed as I scooted behind Diana's legs and hid behind her and hugged her legs.

"Get them away from me Diana!" I was in total panic.

"It's okay Jenna, they're not gonna hurt us," Diana said as she tried to calm me down.

My eyes widened.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course," Diana said. " And they won't eat us."

I sighed in relief.

"Ugh, I almost wet my pants."

Dragonfly walked up to me, and he out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

"Ye okay lass?" he asked. "Sorry if I dropped ye."

"That's okay," I said. "I'm fine too, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack."

"I hoped ya kept yer screamin' down girlie or Spiker and Sponge will hear ya!" Centipede said.

"Centipede!" Dragonfly glared at Centipede. "She was jus' scared that's all."

"Are you dearies all right?" Mrs. Ladybug asked.

"I am," Diana said.

"I think so," I said.

"We're sorry for scaring you Jenna," Butterfly said as she placed her hands on my shoulders.

"That's fine and how did you know my name?"

"Diana told us while you were out," Butterfly said. "But there's nothing to worry about."

I sighed in relief, these bugs weren't mean and scary monsters, and they were kind and harmless. Well to us they were kind, but they could but heads at each other. Centipede is very stubborn and tough. Miss Spider was mild and calm but she didn't like anyone to annoy her. Mr. Grasshopper acts like a proper man with kindness and respect. Dragonfly sounds tough and brave, but he has a soft heart. Miss Butterfly can be sassy, but she shows creativity. Earthworm sounds like a scaredy cat, but he has a good heart. Mrs. Ladybug is easily disgusted by rudeness, but she is very sweet. They all sound interesting.

"We have to turn the lights off," said Mr. Grasshopper.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Spiker and Sponge might see us."

Glowworm turned off her light and we stood in silence.

"Jenna, something tells me we might be on an adventure!" Diana said.

"I guess so Diana. We'll have to wait and see." I said to her.

 _In the next chapter, it's possible we'll meet James. Hopefully we'll get away from Sponge and Spiker. Read the next chapter to find out._


	2. Meeting James

I turned to Dragonfly in the darkness, feeling scared.

"Dragonfly, I feel really scared of being in the dark."

Dragonfly wrapped his arms around me, and stroked my back.

"No need, to worry lass," he said. "I'm sure we're safe."

For a moment, I started to think about the poor boy Diana and I saw. I wonder what his name is and why was he living with these rude and disgusting women. I really want to meet him and protect him from those women. We noticed Centipede was starting to leave the peach, but Mrs. Ladybug stopped him.

" 'Ere now, where do you think your goin' yank?" asked Mrs. Ladybug.

"I'm goin' stir crazy," said Centipede. "I gotta take a look around. Plan our escape from Spiker and Sponge."

"Yeah, lad but t'ey'll catch us before we 'ave t'e chance to escape,"

"Escape to where?" Earthworm cried.

"No one's going to smoosh you my dear boy," Mr. Grasshopper said. "You're six feet long now."

"Exaclty," Miss Butterfly said.

"Bigger target," Earthworm said glumly.

"Very true indeed," Dragonfly said.

"Let them biddies come," Centipede said. Let the biddies come. I'll take 'em both on. I'm "indefeatable." I'm indivisible. I'm…"

"Woah!" a boy fell down in the peach, and we all looked up and saw him falling down from a high place.

"In trouble!" Centipede yelled as the boy bounced on him and he flew over Mr. Grasshopper, Mrs. Ladybug, Miss Butterfly, and Dragonfly, and he slid on Earthworm.

James landed on the monsters and Penelope fell after him through the screen and they landed on the multi-armed monster, then they flew over three monsters in the shape of a grasshopper, ladybug, and dragonfly ducked and he slid on Earthworm.

"It's him," Diana whispered to me.

"IT'S SPIKER AND SPONGE!" Earthworm cried out. "THEY FOUND US!"

"Hello!" Mrs. Glowworm called out as she was swung in the lantern.

He was hit by the lantern and fell to the ground and stared at the bugs in horror.

"No, no, no! It's the lad from the house," Mr. Grasshopper said calmly when he could see better to observe the boy. "What are their names?"

"Miserable tick!" Centipede said to him rudely.

"Isn't it Lazy Little Bug?" Centipede said to him rudely.

"I thought it was rotten little grub!" Earthworm said as he slithered to him.

Mrs. Ladybug and Miss Butterfly flew towards the boy and he screamed.

"No that's what those horrible aunts call him," she said.

"Oui, but what is his real name?" Miss Butterfly asked.

"His real names are, well it's eh, eh-?" Mrs. Ladybug stammered trying to remember.

"It's James," Miss Spider said as she popped down near him as he backed up.

The boy fell back to the corner of the wall as he screamed and the others walked closer to him.

"Now look what you've done now, miss," Mrs. Ladybug said. "Scared him to death."

"Please, don't eat me!" the poor boy cried out timidly.

"Eat you?" Mrs. Ladybug was shocked.

Oh that poor boy, or James was completely more terrified than I was when Diana and I first met the bugs. Sure I did faint seeing them, then I screamed like a little girl, but at least Diana convinced me to trust them.

With Mrs. Ladybug's jaw dropping, the bugs started to laugh.

"Hey Glowworm turn up your lights!" Centipede called out and he clapped his hands.

The light flashed on and James came to his senses that they were not monsters, but human size insects. And he saw Diana and I standing in the corner, and he knew we were the other two humans in the peach.

"I'm a vegetarian," Mr. Grasshopper said.

"I am one as well," Miss Butterfly said.

"Same here," Dragonfly replied.

"I eat dirt," Earthworm said.

"No one will be eating you James," Miss Spider said to James calmly as she lowered herself and smiled at him.

Centipede bumped into her and swung her around and he said to him sarcastically, "Yeah, she'll puncture your heads and suck out the brains."

"Centipede!" Butterfly snapped. "You're going to scare him more!"

Miss Spider swung back to him with an angry face, "That I am saving for you."

Miss Spider tried to hit Centipede but he slipped under her and ended up behind her and said. "Woah! Pretty fast, long legs!"

She angrily turned around and hissed at him causing to go up the ladder and jumped out of his skin, "Oh-oo-oo!"

Although Butterfly didn't like Centipede's rudeness, Diana and I couldn't help but giggle at Centipede for being a scaredy cat around Miss Spider.

"Oh! Such rude behavior!" said Mrs. Ladybug as she frowned.

"That was rude indeed!" Butterfly said. But she then smirked and chuckled. "But kinda cute!"

"I heard that!" Centipede glared at Butterfly. "She could've killed me!"

"Ye're lucky," Dragonfly said. "To not lose yer 'ead to 'er."

Centipede glared at Dragonfly.

Mrs. Ladybug turned to James and smiled as she kindly wiped the dirt off of James's face with her handkerchief.

"There's nothing to be frightened of dearie," Mrs. Ladybug said kindly.

"But you're enormous bugs!" James cried out with astonishment and was filled with shock and looked at us. "Except for the girls."

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Mr. Grasshopper replied to the boy as he smiled.

"We've all changed," Mrs. Ladybug said as she dug into her purse. "And so did you James."

She pulled out a mirror and James gasped as he saw his reflections in the mirror, he was no longer his real self, but he was turned into a china doll like person. Diana and I took a look in the mirror, we were like James and the china dolls.

"The old man who gave me the green things," James said as he took the mirror and looked at his reflection. "He said marvelous things will happen."

"Maybe the old man was right after all," I said.

"Did he say marvelous pigs in satin?" Glowworm asked.

"No my dear lady," Mr. Grasshopper said to Glowworm, Mrs. Ladybug handed him a megaphone and called to her, "Marvelous things will happen."

"Is she all right?" Diana asked Mr. Grasshopper filled up with curiosity, and he exhaled.

"Poor Glowworm, she's a little deaf."

"I, however, have exquisite hearing," Earthworm said proudly.

"Yeah?" Centipede said. "Well, listen to this." He made whoopee cushion sounds with his arms and he took the megaphone and shouted in an ear-piercing voice. "LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!"

"Centipede!" Dragonfly glared at him. "Do ye want t'e 'ags to catch us?"

"Do you really have to yell Centipede?" I asked. I felt my ears were going to explode.

"You have a good point there," Butterfly said as she smiled and then frowned while muttering. "For once."

"You mean leave the hill?" Asked James, "I can't! The rhino will get me!"

"Rhino?" Earthworm got scared and hid himself in a giant glove with his long tail still outside.

"A rhino?" Butterfly was confused.

"Why would a rhino by after James?" Diana asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"I say, dear boy," Mr. Grasshopper said. "I lived on this miserable hill for decades. There are no rhinoceri here."

"Except for Sponge. She's twice as big as a rhino, eh, kid?"

They started to laugh at that funny joke and Diana and I thought Centipede was funny.

"And twice as dangerous," Miss Spider said as she crawled on her web. "My life hangs by a thread every day."

"I've had to send all 300 hundred of me children to safer pastures," said Mrs. Ladybug.

"Your aunts are dangerous you know," Butterfly said to James. "They killed my parents and older sisters." She slowly frowned.

"I rat'er be somew'ere t'an 'ere," Dragonfly said. "Far, far, away."

Earthworm popped his head out of the glove and said, "Hah! You think hiding in solid rock is fun?"

"I can't even remember what fun is," said James as Mr. Grasshopper knelt to his height.

Diana felt hurt when James said that, I knew in my heart that she may have forgotten about fun. I felt that I need to know about fun.

"Well, it's just 'cause you've been stuck here for too long," Centipede said to James. "Listen to me, kid, I know of a place that'll refresh your memory."

"And what shall that be?" Butterfly asked.

Centipede leaped onto Glowworm's lantern and swung around as he broke into song.

 _"Bright lights, big city;_

 _That's were we gotta go!"_

He leapt off the lantern and went back to us.

" _Where the food is great, And the bugs are so pretty;_

 _I'd like to get my arms around a hundred or so!"_

He danced with Mrs. Ladybug and Butterfly and spun them around.

 _"I'd hug 'em,_

 _Squeeze 'em,_

 _Hold 'em tight!"_

After throwing Earthworm on Mrs. Ladybug, he swung me around and dipped me. He then spun Diana around. We all watched Centipede do backward somersaults and show-offs.

 _"Sleep all day,_

 _Dance all night!_

 _I want the bright lights_

 _And the big city:_

 _That's the life for me,_

 _Yeah!_

 _That's the life for…"_

He then landed in Miss Spider's web and Miss Spider ignited Centipede's cigar.

 _"You little maggot!" S_ he outlined a crescent moon.

 _"Have you never seen the moon,_

 _Gliding 'cross the western sky?"_

She then drew a dead oak tree.

 _"_ A _dead oak tree by the waterside?_

 _Putrid vapors rising…"_ She gusted some of the smoke and she exhaled it out into the air. Diana and I started to hack.

"That sounds lovely dear. I'm sure we all agree," Mrs. Ladybug spoke and sang as she shook her fan.

 _"But I prefer the sunshine,_

 _A little park right in the center of the town…"_

Glowworm sang with Mrs. Ladybug, she threw out some flowers from her purse and tossed them up in the air and kept a white flower and red flower.

 _"Flowers everywhere,_

 _Children all around me: I'd love it!_

 _Landing a baby's cheek so warm…_

 _It's wonderful, wonderful!"_

She held out the flower for James to sniff and gave the red flower for me to sniff.

 _"That's the life for me…"_

 _"La la la la la!"_ Sang Glowworm.

 _"That's the life for me…"_ Diana and I danced around as James danced.

 _"La la la la la!" s_ ang Glowworm.

 _"That's the life,_

 _That's the life for me…"_

 _"If I had a dream,"_ Dragonfly sang.

 _"I would definitely_

 _Tell t'e world o' me ideas,"_ he spun Diana around.

"I'm crazy!" I jumped as he shouted and I spun around.

 _"Create new inventions!_

 _In order to impress the world._

 _With eccentricity! Eccentricity!_

 _An' t'at's t'e life for me!_

 _T'at's t'e life for me!_

 _T'at's t'e life for me!"_

"Very interesting indeed," Butterfly said and she started to sing.

" _Well I'd love to design,_

 _Everyone would love moi's work."_

She snatched Centipede's cigar and starts drawing silhouettes of hourglass dresses and heeled boots and shoes.

" _They would!_

 _It'd be absolutely divine!_

 _Everyone will recognize how hard I work._

 _I'd be well known by everyone._

 _That's the life for me!_

 _That's the life for me!_

 _That's the life,_

 _That's the life for me!"_

Mrs. Ladybug threw a cane and a tall hat to Mr. Grasshopper and he caught them. He walked down the steps and every time Centipede interrupts him.

 _"Elegant conversation…"_ Mr. Grasshopper sings.

 _"Bright lights, big city…"_ Centipede cuts in.

 _"An elevated point of view..."_ Mr. Grasshopper sang, as he bonked Centipede's head with his cane.

 _"That's where I'd go,"_ Centipede appears and sings.

 _"Intellectual stimulation…"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang as he kicks him.

 _"Yeah, maybe for you,"_ Sang Centipede and moved just in time as Mr. Grasshopper tried to hit him.

Mr. Grasshopper hands the hat to James _"And someone you love to share it with you!"_

They kept singing and dancing.

 _"It would be wonderful,"_

 _Wonderful,_

 _That's the life for me!"_

"You call that a life?" Earthworm asked.

 _"That's the life for me!"_ They sang.

"It's no pile of dirt," Earthworm said.

 _"That's the life,"_ Mrs. Ladybug sang underneath the yellow spotlight.

 _"That's the life,"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang underneath the blue spotlight.

 _"That's the life,"_ Centipede sang underneath the red spotlight.

" _That's the life,"_ Butterfly sang underneath the purple-pinkish spotlight.

 _"That's t'e life,"_ Dragonfly sang underneath the green spotlight.

 _"That's the life for-"_

"Where are you hiding boy?" a cruel voice yelled. It must be one of those aunts that were picking on him.

Centipede walked straight over to the ladder.

"Where are you going?" I hissed at Centipede. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Hup! Time to go make a pest of myself! Heh-heh!" he said mischievously and laughed as he disappeared. I turned to Diana.

"Diana," I said. "You don't think Centipede is going to reveal us right?"

"I don't think so Jenna," she shook her head.

"Excuse me," We turned to the voice and realized it was James. "Is your name Jenna?"

"Yes," I said kindly as I knelt to his height. "And this is Diana."

"Look at this place!" we heard Sponge said. "It's still filthy!"

Everyone, even James, Diana, and I grew scared of those aunts.

"Where are you, detestable little worm?" Spiker called out.

Earthworm shrieked and fainted.

"Not you!" James cried, "ME!"

"You better not be near our peach!" Sponge called out.

"Oh god," Dragonfly said in fright. "T'ey're gettin' closer!"

"They're going to find us!" Butterfly cried.

"Oh please! Don't let them spray us!" begged Mrs. Ladybug.

"Spray us?" cried Earthworm. "They'll see the Yank up there and come after us with a shovel! It happened to my brother!"

"How awful!" cried James.

"Oh that's terrible!" I cried.

"Absolutely!" Butterfly said.

"Split him right down the middle," Earthworm finished his story in a nutshell. "Now I have two half brothers!"

"Shh! They'll hear us!" whispered Mr. Grasshopper.

Diana was taller than me, even though I am older. I still feel young and terrified, and I hugged my new friend.

"Diana, I am so scared!"

"I know Jenna," she said. "Me too."


	3. The Ocean

Centipede popped out of the hole and he saw Spiker and Sponge walking around and they were really looking for the kid.

"Yoo-hoo!" Called Spiker. "Where are you boy?"

"I think I hear a rhino right here," called Sponge.

Centipede thought of a way to break the peach free the tree and saw the stem attached to the tree.

"Ahh! This will be a snap," He muttered to himself as he grinned.

He started to use his antennas to chop the stem.

Sponge and Spiker heard the sound and Spiker shushed her sister.

"Shh! I really do hear something," she said quietly.

Centipede kept chopping the stem and when he was nearly there.

"Timber!" he murmered.

He quickly slipped in the hole before Spiker and Sponge could see him.

"What's that?" James asked as Centipede jumped down.

"Fasten your seat belts kids!" Centipede said.

"Centipede! What did you do?" I cried.

"What are vous trying to say?" Butterfly cried.

"Ahh!" Sponge and Spiker screamed. "The car!"

They rushed to their car to escape as the peach rolled towards them.

As everyone started to run James cried, "We're turning!"

"Are you serious?" Diana asked.

"Wha-wha-wha- what have you done?" Earthworm cried.

"This is gonna be a crazy ride!" Dragonfly yelled.

Diana and I started to run with the others, I felt sick in her stomach as the peach started to tilt.

"I'm gonna be sick!"

"Stop worrying Blondie!" Centipede said as he ran. "Everythany's gonna be fine!"

The peach started accelerating down the hill and it went through a village, rolled through a graveyard and flew over the church.

Now everyone was now lying on the stonewalls of the peach stone and Penelope felt like she was riding on a ride at an amusement park.

"Here stomach, here stomach, HERE STOMACH!" Yelled Centipede.

Diana clutched on me and I clutched onto her.

Diana, James, the bugs, and I were lying flat on the wall and we were all dizzy and we couldn't move or talk.

Then the peach was in the air and it fell downwards into the water making a huge splatter. Everything went black.

There were some groans and everyone was tangled and piled up.

My head was filled with lead and iron as it was pulling me down.

"Oh my head," I muttered.

"Where are we?" Asked James.

"Ow!" Earthworm yelled. "Somebody pinched me!"

"Sorry," Centipede responded. "I thought you were the Spider."

Miss Spider hit back Centipede back angrily but what all they heard was Earthworm gasping.

"Ouch! What was that?"

"Excuse," Miss Spider said apologetically. "I thought you were the Centipede."

Diana and I giggled, Centipede is definitely in love with Miss Spider.

"He is definitely in love," Diana said.

"Definitely l'amour," I said.

"Is t'ere somet'in' on me?" he pushed off whoever it was on him to the floor.

"Ow!" It was Butterfly.

"Augh!" Dragonfly said. "Sorry lass."

"Hey Glowworm," Centipede called out. "How about some light?"

"I can't hear you, dear," Glowworm replied while trying to get her light on, "I'll have to put my light on."

The light turned to green and the whole group was tangled up and poor Mrs. Ladybug was lying on her back moving her arms and legs as a normal sized ladybug would do. Miss Spider set James down so he can help her.

"Don't worry," James walked towards her and pushed her back on her feet. "I'll have you right-side up in no time."

"Thank you James," she smiled. "Where are you going?"

"To see where we've landed," James responded politely as he climbed the ladder.

"We'll come with you," Diana said as she followed after James and I followed her to the ladder. After we climbed up, Butterfly stares at Miss Spider and Centipede and they were still glaring at each other. She then started to giggle.

"Whadchya laughin' at?" Centipede asked glaring at her.

"You'll find out soon," she smirked.

James opened the peach hole and there was a bright blue sky with seagulls flying around.

"Woah!" James cried and he climbed up on the peach stem.

"Oh Diana!" I said as if I were in Heaven, tt was the beautiful blue, salty, and calm ocean.

"Oh, my, my!" Mrs. Ladybug crawled out in astonishment.

"Oh, my achin' back!" Earthworm came out.

"Ohhhh!" Dragonfly climbed out and was amazed by the sight of the ocean. SO was Butterfly.

"Ohh! Fascinating isn't it?" Mr. Grasshopper asked.

"I'll bet the King himself, doesn't have a view like this," I replied to him. "I could stay out here forever."

"What? What's so fascinating tell me?" Earthworm asked in a worried voice. "Don't leave me dangling."

Miss Spider came next and Centipede followed after her.

"We're in the middle of the…" Miss Spider said in amazement. "How do you say? The big puddle."

"The biggest puddle of them all, Angel Fangs," Centipede said as Miss Spider frowned and showed off her teeth. "The Atlantic Ocean."

"Technically, the Pacific is larger," said Mr. Grasshopper.

"That is correct," Butterfly smiled.

"Very true indeed," Dragonfly said.

"Well," Centipede took a drag of his cigar.

"But there is land in sight?" Asked Earthworm.

"Nothing but blue skies and clear waters," Mrs. Ladybug said.

Earthworm made a grunt and went towards Centipede.

"This is all your fault!"

"Hey!" Centipede shot back at him. "Wasn't for me, we'd all be Spiked and Sponged by now!"

"Aren't ye two overreactin' a bit?" Dragonfly asked. "Besides we're far away for now."

I knew that Centipede did have a pint that Sponge and Spiker didn't get us and if they did they would skin all of us.

"This old man with his green things..." Miss Spider asked James. "Did he happen to speak to where we are going?"

"No," said James. "All he said was the answers would be right here." James felt something in his coat pocket. "Huh?"

He pulled his travel book of New York City. "My travel book!"

James looked in the travel book and he saw the peach sailing on the Atlantic Ocean.

"Look!" James cried. "There's the peach!" The peach is sailing from London to their star destination: New York City!

"We're going to New York City!" he said happily!

"Wait New York City!" I cried. I've been there once, I finally get to go there go there again. It's like a dream come true!

"New York!" Centipede cried out. "They love me there!"

James explained to each of the bugs and Centipede cried out what James meant.

"A park full of leaves for you Mrs. Ladybug," said James.

"Oh" she exclaimed.

"Central Park!" Centipede blurted out.

"And loads of dark hiding places," he said to Miss Spider as she smiled.

"Nightclubs!" Centipede interrupts.

"And there's a lot of fashion designing for you, Butterfly!" James said to Butterfly.

Butterfly grinned in joy now that she'll be working in one of the fashion capitols of the world, even Paris, London, and Milan are one of the Fashion capitols too!

"Fashion shows!" Centipede said to her.

"And museums and concerts," James said to Mr. Grasshopper.

Centipede reply "Not to mention Yankee Stadium."

"What about me?" Earthworm asked.

"Why, they've got miles and miles of underground tunnels!" Earthworm smiled.

"The subway," Centipede said.

"Is there anything for me laddie?" Dragonfly asked.

"Why they have a technical school where you can show off your inventions Mr. Dragonfly!"

"The New York City Technical School!" Centipede wrapped his arm around Dragonfly.

"There's also Carnegie Hall, the New York Institute of Arts! Especially the Metropolitan Opera House."

"Oh the Opera House!" I felt I was going to faint, I love operas. I might finally get my dream of being in operas.

"I'll get my chance of being an artist!" Diana said.

"My father said it's the city where dreams come true," said James.

 _"That's the life for me!"_ Sang Centipede.

 _"That's the life for me!"_ Sang Mrs. Ladybug.

 _"That's the life for me!"_ Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, and Centipede.

 _"That's the life for me!"_ Sang Miss Spider, Butterfly and Mrs. Ladybug.

 _"That's the life..."_ Sang James, Diana and I.

 _"That's the life..._

 _That's the life..._

 _That's the life..._

 _That's the for me!"_ The others even James, Diana, and I sang at the same time.

"New York it is then!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed and he asked, "Now, how do we get there?"

"I'll get us there!" Centipede said.

"You?" Asked Mr. Grasshopper.

"Sure!" Said Centipede as he got in front of Miss Spider. "I've sailed the five seas: from the sun drenched wreaths of Bora Bora... to the icy shores of Tripoli."

"Seriously?" Butterfly rolled her eyes.

Mr. Grasshopper rolled his eyes and corrected him, "Seven."

Huh?" Asked Centipede.

"There are seven seas and Tripoli is in the sun tropics... Commodore."

"Trim the sails!" Centipede didn't listen to him.

"There are no sails," said Mrs. Ladybug.

"Stoke the engines," he ordered again.

"There are no engines." Said Earthworm.

"I can't work with the miserable crew," complained Centipede as he threw his hat down.

"Je ne l'aime pas son attitude," Butterfly replied in French. "It's not our fault!"

"Great!" Said Earthworm "We're stuck here until we shrivel up and die!"

"Stop yer worryin' Earthworm!" Dragonfly said. "Things are gonna be fine! Right Mr. Dragonfly?"

"Highly improbable," said Mr. Grasshopper as he cleaned his monocle.

"Well that's a relief," said Mrs. Ladybug.

"Then what will happen?" Butterfly asked.

"We're far more likely to drown," said Mr. Grasshopper.

"Please Mr. Grasshopper," I cried. "I don't wanna hear something like that!"

"I'm sorry my dear," he said.

Diana noticed James was watching the sky and saw the seagulls flying in the air.

"I know! We could…" He spoke up his face brightening, then his face turned glum. "No, it's a stupid idea."

"What is it?" she asked James.

"Compared to what?" Mr. Grasshopper also asked him.

"Well, we could fly out," James said.

"He's right," Centipede agreed with James. "It's stupid."

Mr. Grasshopper glared at him.

"But their must be another way!" I said. "We won't survive in this sea forever!"

"How would you do it, James?" Mrs. Ladybug asked James.

"With those seagulls," James answered as he looked up at the seagulls. "But we'll need string."

"Oh well, I'll just go to the stationer's and pick up some paper clips while I'm at it!" said Earthworm.

"I have string," Miss Spider said as she pulled some string from her abdomen, "Miles of string."

"Perfect!" I said.

"And we'll need bait," Diana finished up the plan with the solution. "Bird bait."

"Bird bait?" Centipede, Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, Miss Butterfly, Diana, Mrs. Ladybug, and I circled around him and we were all smiling. "Where do you expect we're gonna find bird bait out here in the middle of the…"

He stopped talking as Mrs. Ladybug pulled out a cowbell from her purse and it clanged,

"The… Oh, no! No, no!" Earthworm said as he turned around said with a scared tone in his voice. "Have you lost your minds?"

We grabbed Earthworm and wrapped the bell around his neck as he screamed.


	4. The Shark and the Habanera

"They've lost their minds! Anything but birds," said Earthworm as he was lying down on the peach with the bell around his neck.

Centipede held Earthworm and James held the first string "Don't worry," James reassured him. "I'm right here. Now, wiggle."

Diana and I were down with the others prepared to pull him down.

"No!' Earthworm refused.

"You have to wiggle Mr. Earthworm!" I said.

"No worries," Diana said. "You'll be fine!"

"But they won't come if you don't wiggle," said James.

"Exactly and you can't make me," said Earthworm.

Centipede grew impatient and he came up with "Plan B."

"Oh yeah!" Snickered Centipede as he tickled Earthworm's sides and Earthworm laughed and rang the bell as he wiggled.

"Oh hey! No fair! Mockingbirds munched my mother!" cried Earthworm as he laughed.

As he kept wiggling, a seagull noticed him and swooped down towards him.

James saw the first seagull and said to the others, "Here comes the first one. Get ready to pull down there."

"My sisters were swallowed by swallows!" Cried Earthworm.

The bird squeaked and James yelled as he gave the signal, "Pull!"

Diana, the others, and I pulled hard on Earthworm's body down. James threw the string around the seagulls' neck and and tied it to them and he said excitedly, "It worked! I caught one!"

"Excellent!" Diana called out to him.

"Shh! I hear teeth," Earthworm said. "Great, big, gnashing teeth!"

Diana and I crawled out with Mr. Grasshopper, Centipede and Dragonfly to see what was going on.

"It sounds like a rhinoceros!" James exclaimed.

"In the ocean?" Mr. Grasshopper said calmly. "Uh, scientifically impossible."

"What could that be?" I asked.

"I hear something too!" Said Miss Spider as she was on her web.

A whirlpool appeared and it started to suck in a school of tuna. Mr. Grasshopper looked in his monocle and saw the whirlpool.

"It's a school of tuna," Mr. Grasshopper said. "They're being sucked into some sort of machine."

"Ye don' t'ink it's t'e loch ness monster?" Dragonfly asked.

"What do you mean?" Asked James.

"Take a look," Mr. Grasshopper said and he handed James his monocle and he took a look in it and he saw a giant robot shark popped out of the water.

"It's a giant shark!" he cried.

"What did you say?" Diana and I yelled.

The giant mechanical shark spitted out plates with tuna heads. It was disgusting!

"Ye don't t'ink it'll come fer us?" Dragonfly asked.

"It seems to have spotted us!" Cried Centipede.

"Uh oh!" I cried.

The robot shark started to swim towards them.

"Oh this is not good!" Diana exclaimed.

"What do we do?" Centipede wrapped his arms around James and shook him and cried, "What do we do?"

"The seagulls!" said James filled with determination. "It's our only chance."

"It would take the whole flock and then some," said Mr. Grasshopper. "We'll never do it in time!"

When he said that, Centipede shook like a leaf and held his cap.

"What can we do to catch 'em?" Dragonfly asked.

"We'll use Miss Spider's web for a net," James said. "Hurry!"

"Warn them Diana!" I cried. Diana ran down the tunnel and called out. "Miss, we need your net for a web to catch those seagulls or we'll be shark bait!"

Miss Spider tore down her web and wrapped it up.

"Throw it here dearie!" Mrs. Ladybug cried and Miss Spider tossed her web to Mrs. Ladybug.

Mrs. Ladybug threw the net to Butterfly and she threw it to Diana.

"Here James!" Diana then threw the net to James.

James caught the net and he turned to Earthworm.

"Wiggle Mr. Earthworm!" James said. "Our lives depend on it!"

"I can't! I'm all wiggled out!" said Earthworm as he tried to get back into the peach and Centipede grunted and grabbed Earthworm.

"Here, let me help you," Centipede said smirking.

He then spun Earthworm into the air and Earthworm screamed.

"Come and get it!" Centipede yelled to the seagulls. "Get your fresh hot wienie!"

The whole flock of seagulls flew down towards Earthworm as they heard Centipede yelling to them. "Come on, baby!"

The shark kept swimming to the peach.

"Another five minutes," I said. "And we'll be goners!"

After the seagulls flew closer, Centipede jumped down the hole with Earthworm, and James tossed the net and he caught all of the seagulls.

"We got 'em! Hand us the loops!" Said James.

Miss Spider and Mrs. Ladybug tossed up the strings to James and he tied the strings to the stem and James started to tie the strings around the seagulls' necks and Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, Centipede, Diana, and I came out and helped James tie up the seagulls.

"Hurry!" Cried James.

"Faster! The shark's getting closer!" I yelled.

"Shake a leg there!" Mr. Grasshopper snapped at Centipede.

"Keep your pants on!" Yelled Centipede. "I've only got twelve hands!"

"An' I 'ave six!" Dragonfly said.

As they kept tying up the seagulls, the shark was gaining on them.

"It's getting closer!" Cried Earthworm as he was hiding in the tunnels.

They released the net and the seagulls that are tied up flew up into the sky.

"Seagulls away!" Yelled Centipede.

The peach was lifted from the water as the seagulls lifted it into the air.

They hoped they were going to get away from the shark but he shot an arrow at them and it pierced through the peach and went through the stone and nearly hit Miss Spider, Butterfly, and Mrs. Ladybug and they gasped.

"Oh no!" Cried James as he looked at the shark.

"Oh dear!" Cried Mr. Grasshopper.

As the arrow pulled back the peach, Centipede fell forward and grabbed the cord and his hat.

Then sharp scissors like sharks were shot at them and James turned the stem but one of the sharp things cut some of the strings and a few seagulls were flying away.

"They're getting away!" Cried James as the seagulls flew away.

"Hop on, James!" Said Mr. Grasshopper and James hopped on his back and Mr. Grasshopper jumped up to grab the seagulls.

"Here lassies," Diana crawled on Dragonfly's back and he picked me up by the waist and we flew up towards the sky to reach the seagulls.

"Now nab them!" Mr. Grasshopper and James grabbed the strings and as they went down tugging the strings.

"Grab 'em lassies!" Dragonfly called. Diana, Dragonfly, and I grabbed the strings of the seagulls on flew down.

The shark shot two more of those sharp scissor sharks and we watched them both scream, "Help!"

Then Mrs. Ladybug crawled out of the peach, with Butterfly and they flew in the air and swung her purse around to hit the sharp shark scissors.

"Hooligans!" Said Mrs. Ladybug as she hit the scissors with her purse and the other one as it fell into the ocean, "Ruffians! Degenerates!"

Butterfly kicked one with her high-heeled boot.

"Well done Mrs. Ladybug," she smiled.

"Right back at you dearie!"

Dragonfly flew us down to the stem and waited for James and Mr. Grasshopper to land.

They both landed and James jumped off of Mr. Grasshopper and we tied the strings with the seagulls back on the stem.

Mr. Grasshopper, Butterfly, Mrs. Ladybug, Diana, Dragonfly, James and I cheered on the seagulls.

"Come on seagulls!" Yelled James.

"Put your backs into it!" Yelled Mr. Grasshopper.

"Shake your bloomin' tail feathers!" Yelled Mrs. Ladybug.

"You can do it!" Yelled Diana.

"Fly away from the beast!" Dragonfly yelled.

"Don't give up!" I yelled.

As the cheering was going on, Centipede was climbing on the cord trying to reach the fence pathway and he muttered to the shark, "Good sharky... nice sharky..."

Inside the peach, Miss Spider grabbed a hammer and started to pound on the arrow so that they could escape.

Centipede almost fell and he slob towards the shark's mouth and screamed, "Sharky!"

Centipede was almost near the mouth of the shark and held onto the cord for dear life and Miss Spider kept hammering the cord.

Centipede acted like a chicken and he ran up the wire and reached the wooden fence pathway just in the nick of time as Miss Spider slammed the arrow and as Centipede ran up the pathway, the arrow went in the shark's mouth and it started to break down and blew up into to pieces.

Everyone all applauded and Centipede jumped on the pathway and shouted,

"Teach ya to mess with me, ya overgrown sardine! I'm from Brooklyn!" Diana and I cracked up about Centipede's joke.

"Pure Twadle!" Mr. Grasshopper giggled and said. "Every bug on board displayed extraordinary courage. Especially Mr. Dragonfly, Miss Diana and Miss Jenna, were extremely great helpers. Why, did you see Ms. Ladybug and Butterfly risk life and wing to bash those brutes on the snoot?"

"Well, they were being very rude," Mrs. Ladybug replied. "I can't abide rudeness."

"Mei Oui," Butterfly said at us. "We always knew they were very helpful!"

"We are all forgetting something," Miss Spider turned to James and Penelope. "Everything we did was a part of the brilliant plan of James.."

"It really did work didn't it?" James asked.

"I knew you would figure out something to save our lives," Diana said.

She and I mounted James on his shoulders.

"We're very proud and grateful for you James!" I said.

"I say three cheers for James," Mr. Grasshopper called out, "Hip hip…"

"Hooray!" said Earthworm, Dragonfly, and Centipede.

"Hip hip…" Mr. Grasshopper said for the second time.

"Hooray!" Then Glowworm, Butterfly, and Mrs. Ladybug cried in joy.

"Hip hip…" Mr. Grasshopper said one last time and everyone yelled "Hooray!"

"New York!" Centipede walked to the stem and he spitted every hand and turned the stem and yelled, "Here we come!"

And the peach flew into the air.

* * *

I was sitting on the side of the fence, by myself and I thought of what happened today was a big adventure. I got bored and I decided to sing one of my favorite songs from my favorite operas.

" _When will I love you?"_ I sang in my opera singing voice.

" _Good Lord, I don't know."_

" _Maybe never,_

 _Maybe tomorrow."_

" _But not today, that's for sure,"_ I walked up the wooden fence. The bugs heard the music and watch me coming up to them in graceful steps.

" _Love is a rebellious bird,_

 _That no one can tame,"_ I shook out my fan and waved it over myself.

" _And you can call him quite in vain,_

 _If it suits him to refuse."_

I walked up to Earthworm, and I placed my hand underneath his neck gently and I kissed the tip of his nose.

" _Nothing to be done,_

 _Threat or prayer,_

 _The one talks well,_

 _The other is silent."_

I came to Centipede and I sang around him. My left leg came out of the silt of my dress and one of Centipede's hands started stroking it.

" _And it's the other,_

 _That I prefer;_

 _He says nothing,_

 _But he pleases me."_

" _Love!_

 _Love!_

 _Love!_

 _Love!"_

I then turned to Centipede and whacked him on the head with my closed fan.

"Hey!" The girls giggled.

" _Love is a gypsy's child;_

 _It has never, ever, known the law._

 _If you do not love me, I love you;_

 _If I love you, take guard yourself."_

(Music plays)

" _If you love me not,_

 _if you love me not,_

 _then I love you!"_

(Music plays)

" _But if I love you,_

 _if I love you,_

 _take guard yourself!"_

(Music plays)

I walked around as if an imaginary chorus was signing the law, and they were smiling at me.

" _If you love me not,_

 _If you love me not,_

 _Then I love you!"_

 _(Music plays)_

" _But if I love you,_

 _If I love you,_

 _Take guard yourself!"_ I sang higher.

I laid my back against Dragonfly and he wrapped his arms around my waist and I sang.

" _The bird you thought you had caught,_

 _Beat its wings and flew away._

 _Love stays away, you can wait for it;_

 _When you stop waiting, there it is!_

 _All around you, swift, swift,_

 _It comes, goes, then it returns,_

 _You think you hold it fast,_

 _It flees, you think you're free,_

 _It holds you fast,"_ Dragonfly released me and I kept singing.

" _Love!_

 _Love!_

 _Love!_

 _Love!"_

I stood next Mr. Grasshopper, and he played his violin to the song I was singing. I then took Centipede's cigar and took a small drag as I sang.

" _Love is a gypsy child;_

 _He has never, ever, known the law."_ I inhaled on the cigar as I sang and then I took it out as I let out a smoke.

" _If you love me not,_

 _Then I love you;_

 _And if I love you,_

 _Take guard yourself!"_ I blew the smoke in Centipede's face.

"Hey!"

(Music plays)

" _If you love me not,_

 _If you love me not,_

 _Then I love you!"_

(Music plays)

" _But if I love you,_

 _If I love you,_

 _Take guard yourself!"_

Everyone giggled as I jumped around playfully and the girls laughed.

" _If you love me not,_

 _If you love me not,_

 _Then I love you!"_

" _But if I love you,_

 _If I love you,_

 _Take guard yourself!"_ I made a pose with my arms in the air and I grinned.

Everyone clapped at my performance and I bowed. I know smoking is bad for my health, I inhaled the cigar more and I exhaled the smoke and coughed. I'm really not a smoker, so I gave the cigar back to Centipede.

"What a beautiful voice you got their Jenna," Mr. Grasshopper said. "But that song you sang sounds familiar."

"It's from an opera called 'Carmen," I said. "The song I sang was the Habanera and it's written by Georges Bizet."

"Carmen?" Butterfly asked. "What's that about?"

"Carmen's a great opera," I said. "It's a tragic story about love, hate, jealously, passion, betrayal, and revenge. Even though it is tragic and dark, it's filled with passionate music."

"What's the plot of the opera dearie?" Mrs. Ladybug asked.

"Well the plot is very simple, the opera takes place in Seville, a city in Spain somewhere in the 1820's. But the opera is sung in French. According to the plot of the opera, there's this inexperienced soldier named Don Jose who's engaged to a village maiden named Michaela. But one day, he falls in love with a gypsy named Carmen, so he dumps Michaela, quits the army and becomes a bandit just so he could be with Carmen. But then, Carmen falls in love with a bullfighter named Escamillo. Don Jose is crushed, he ruins his whole life for that woman and she dumps him."

Everyone gasped.

"So then he... Well, I don't want to spoil the ending for all of you. But let's just say it doesn't end well. My dream is to play the title character from the opera."

"Oh, now I remembered," Mr. Grasshopper, said. "Carmen is one of my favorite operas."

"Oui," I said. "My biggest dream is to be an opera singer. I'll join the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and sing in an opera. I can sing soprano and mezzo-soprano parts."

"With a pretty voice like that," Dragonfly said. "You could impress many people."

"Thanks, but I don't think I can smoke again," I turned to Centipede. "No offence to you."

Centipede made a face at me and Butterfly giggled.

I love hearing their comments at least I finally have some support to accomplish my dream of being in operas.

* * *

 **The song I was singing was called the Habanera from the opera "Carmen," the song is sung in French and it's very beautiful! If you want to hear the song, it's sung on Youtube by Agnes Baltsa and Maria Ewing, they are the best Carmen's in the past.**

 **I hope to post more of the story soon, and I'll post another song from Carmen in the later chapters.**


	5. This Fantastic Peach!

**Well, I finally posted this chapter, but I have plans on a song for me and Diana to sing. Enjoy this chapter and review!**

* * *

By around mid-afternoon, the peach flew up into the sky and was above the orange yellow colored clouds in the shape of steaming teapots, which was very beautiful. One thing that we all haven't thought of was food.

I was sitting near Diana and we were doing our normal routines, Diana was drawing in her notebook of a butterfly. I was humming to another song from another opera as I crossed my legs and meditated.

Dragonfly was sitting near Earthworm and Mrs. Ladybug and was taking a drag of his pipe.

Centipede was standing at the peach stem, and he rubbed his stomach and was complaining.

"Want… food," he groaned. "Food."

He chewed at the end of his cigar hoping it would stuff him up. My face was filled with disgust, "Blech!"

"You sure you know where we're going?" Mr. Grasshopper asked. "I don't see how you can navigate without a compass."

As he spoke, he turned into a bottle of wine and a piece of cheese. Centipede immediately blinked and rubbed his eyes and he looked at Earthworm.

"It's very hot up here," Earthworm turned into a hot dog with a line of mustard on his body. "I'm roasted."

"Ye can say t'at again laddie," Dragonfly turned into a chicken leg. "It's even more 'otter t'an Scotland."

Centipede shook his head madly and looked up at the seagulls. One turned into roasted chicken and licked his lips. He made sure no one was looking and started to pull down on a string a seagull was on and he was ready to bite off the seagull's head.

"Unhand that bird!" Mrs. Ladybug yelled and hit his head hard with her purse.

"Aah-aah!" Centipede snapped back into reality and the seagull yanked on his nose hard and yelped in pain.

"But I'm dyin' of hunger," Centipede said to Mrs. Ladybug with a dry mouth.

"Oh, perhaps I have a bit of soda bread in here somewhere," Mrs. Ladybug said as she dug in her purse.

"Food?" Mr. Grasshopper turned around.

"It's not much," Mrs. Ladybug said as she took out the soda bread. "But it's..."

"Not so fast!" yelled Mr. Grasshopper as he took the soda bread from Mrs. Ladybug.

"Hey!" Yelled Centipede.

"You!" Cried Mrs. Ladybug.

"I need this food," Mr. Grasshopper said as he bit into the soda bread with his mouthful. "I have a much higher metabolism."

"Bite me!" Centipede yelled at Mr. Grasshopper.

"What?" asked Mr. Grasshopper as Centipede jumped on him and the two started to fight over the soda bread.

"Have you two gone mad?" Mrs. Ladybug yelled to the two bugs.

" 'ave ye lost yer minds?" Dragonfly yelled as he and a drooling Earthworm turned their attention to the fighting bugs. Butterfly and Miss Spider came up on top to see the commotion.

The yelling snapped out of my meditating, Diana and I watched Centipede and Mr. Grasshopper trying to get the soda bread.

"Let go of it Gramps! Get it! Give it to me!" Centipede yelled as he got on top of Mr. Grasshopper.

"Let go of my coat!" yelled Mr. Grasshopper.

"Give it to me!"

"Ow! My lower thorax!"

"I'll rip you apart!"

"I tell you, it's mine!"

"Give... it...back!" yelled Centipede as he tried to retrieve the soda bread and it slipped out of their hands and it toppled down the side.

Mr. Grasshopper and Centipede looked at each other angrily.

"Now look what you've done?" they said at the same time, and they stared to fight.

"Good Lord," Diana said.

"Are you serious right now?" I muttered. "Fighting is not gonna help."

"We're going to starve," Earthworm cried out. "Waste away. And not quickly."

"Take it easy Earthworm," Dragonfly said. "Complainin' ain't gonna 'elp!"

"Oh Lord," Butterfly said. "If they keep fighting, they'll kill each other and we'll not get any food."

As they kept fighting, we looked over to James and noticed that he is pressing his hands into the peach and an idea came into his head as he grinned.

"What is it James?" Diana asked.

"Oh, no, that would be the easy way out," Earthworm groaned. "We'll linger. Slowly. Miserably. Painfully."

"Nobody's going to starve!" James said as he smiled.

"Take it easy all of you!" I said.

"Knock it off you two!" Diana said.

The fight between Centipede and Mr. Grasshopper stopped and were surprised and didn't know what the boy was talking about.

"Don't you see?" asked James. "We have enough food here for five voyages." He climbed into the hole and Diana, the others and I gathered around him.

"Food? Where?" asked Centipede "What are you talkin' about?"

"Is there really food?" Mr. Grasshopper asked.

"Of course there's food, Mr. Grasshopper," I said.

"The whole ship is made of food," James appeared with a huge piece of peach.

I smiled as I took a piece of the peach and divided it with Diana. We watched as the insects took a small slab of peach.

"Oh such a clever little boy," Mrs. Ladybug said.

"I wonder how we never noticed that," Butterfly said, taking a piece.

"Beats me lass," Dragonfly said.

Centipede took a bigger piece and took a large bite of it.

"Takes after me," he said with his mouthful.

"After you, there is nothing left to take," Miss Spider said as she took Centipede's small piece without saying please.

"Aye," Dragonfly said. "'tis better t'an grass."

"It's delectable," Mr. Grasshopper as he ate the pieces off his coat. "Mmm-mmm!"

"Better than aphids," Mrs. Ladybug said.

"Mm, better than ladybugs," Miss Spider said.

"What?!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed in shock.

"Excuse," said Miss Spider shyly.

"This is way better, than an ordinary peach," I said as I ate my piece.

"I agree Jenna," Diana said.

"It's not dirt," Earthworm bit into his slice, "but it's not bad."

"Not bad?" Centipede asked skeptically and commented, "It's the best thing I've ever tasted, and I have tasted a lot." We all took turns and jumped into the hole and they planned to set up a feast.

The others and I set up the table with a bucket for the table and plates with a London flag for a tablecloth.

Centipede and James went to one side of the peach and grabbed another big lump of peach. He slid down the ladder and leapt onto the lantern Glowworm was in and was lowered down.

 _"I've eaten many strange and scrumptious dishes in my time,"_ Centipede sang.

 _Like chili bugs and curried slugs and earwigs cooked in slime."_

After getting close to the table, Mr. Grasshopper helped James down.

 _"And mice with rice is very nice when they're roasted in their prime,"_ Centipede was still holding onto the lantern took off his cap and turned it into a chef's hat.

 _But don't forget to sprinkle them with just a pinch of grime."_

After sprinkling the peach chunk with the ashes from his cigar like pepper. He spun the peach chunk around like he was making a pot in pottery. He used knives to cut it into pieces and Diana, James and I grabbed our pieces and chowed down on them.

 _"I'm crazy about mosquitoes on a piece of buttered toast_ ," Centipede swung around on the lantern and handed Glowworm a slice of peach.

" _And pickled spines of porcupines,_

 _And then a great big roast and dragon's flesh quite old not fresh, it costs a buck at most."_

"Does it come with gravy?" Glowworm asked.

 _"It comes to you in barrels if you order it by post?"_ Centipede sang as he swung to Miss Spider and after handing over her peach slice the looked like a daisy and she slapped him in the face without saying thank you.

James, Diana, Butterfly, Dragonfly, Mrs. Ladybug, Earthworm, and Mr. Grasshopper walked around the table and bowed at each other. Centipede brought in a large ball of peach and as it rolled down, they quickly turned the pail over before the large ball exploded.

" _It comes to you in barrels if you order it by post."_

As it landed in the pail, some of the peach sloshed on my face and James's face and we both fell back.

 _"For dinner on my birthday, shall I tell you what I chose?"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang as he took our hands and pulled us up to our feet.

 _"Hot noodles made of poodles on a slice of garden hose_ ," James and I took off the peach slosh and put it back into the pail. Mr. Grasshopper pulled up his pant sleeves and stepped into the pail.

" _And a rather smelly jelly made of armadillos toes,_

 _The jelly is delicious, but you have to hold your nose."_

He started to squish the peach with his feet and Mrs. Ladybug took out some beer glasses from her purse.

 _"I crave the tasty tentacles of octopi for tea,"_ she started to fill them up which looked like root beer with foam bursting at the top.

" _I like hot dogs, but I like hot frogs and surely you'll agree."_

She tossed the glasses to bug and human and we all caught them.

I took a gulp of the drink and it was extremely delicious and addictive like wine.

 _"A plate of soil with engine oil is a super recipe,"_ Mrs. Ladybug sang.

 _"Recipe…"_ James, Diana, Dragonfly, Earthworm, and I sang as we clanked our glasses together and wrapped arms around each other.

 _"I hardly need to mention that it's practically free,"_ Mrs. Ladybug danced and sang.

Everyone danced and chanted 'Peach' and danced around the peach and I was dancing with Diana and we were all having fun.

We all sang, _"We hardly need to mention that it's practically free."_

" _I love the taste of fruits,"_ Butterfly sang as she held her glass up high.

" _And oh how this peach has fascinated me._

 _Good to eat, good to drink._

 _Flavor so sweet!_

 _What's better than that?"_

" _Flavor so sweet,_

 _What's better than that?"_ We sang.

 _"Now, come my fellow travelers, the burden of my speech."_ Everyone looked up and saw Centipede carrying another giant slab of peach.

"You show off!" Miss Spider called to him. Diana and I cracked up.

 _"These foods are rare beyond compare and some right out of reach."_ Centipede sang.

Suddenly, he lost balance and we scattered around and the chunk splattered around and buried us underneath it, except Miss Spider because she was in her pipe.

"Nice aim, Commodore," she smiled.

 _"But there's no doubt I go without a million plates of each."_ Centipede sang as he landed near Miss Spider's pipe.

"Out of my face!" Miss Spider snapped angrily as she threw her peach beer at him.

 _"For one small bite…"_ Centipede sang.

 _"One small mite…"_ Earthworm, Mrs. Ladybug, and Dragonfly appeared from the peach mess on the floor and sang.

 _"One tiny bite…"_ Centipede sang.

 _"Tiny bite of this…"_ Mr. Grasshopper, Diana, Butterfly, James and I sang.

 _"Fantastic… PEACH!"_ Centipede turns the handle and peach liquid spilled out of the peach and caused Miss Spider to fall into the pile and we all came up with an amusing idea.

Diana, James, the bugs, and I started to throw peach bits at each other and we all threw them at Centipede and he fell in and we started to throw more peach bits around just like snowball fights and finished the song with _"This fantastic peach!"_


	6. Top of The World

After the dinner party, Centipede went up to his post to stir the peach and the others were falling asleep. Except for James and Miss Spider, the arachnid prepared the web for James to lie in for bed.

"You keep to yourself don't you?" James asked.

"I prefer to be alone," Miss Spider replied.

"I was alone for a long time once. I think it's much nicer to have friends, don't you?" James asked.

"I would not know," Miss Spider said.

"They'd be your friends too. The others, I mean. If you'd just let them."

"No, it is in their nature to have fear of me," Miss Spider said. "This I cannot change."

"You're very kind to me," James said.

"Maybe this is because you were kind to me first," as the Arachnid laid James down and tied her thread around his waist, wrapping his little frame to keep him warm. James finally put the puzzle pieces together.

"You were the spider in our window!" James exclaimed, and his eyes were both wide.

"Mm-hmm." Miss Spider said smoothly as she nodded to them.

"You were my first friend!" James said and then his face darkened. "I mean, since I went to live with my aunts. They hated me!"

"Ssshhh!" Miss Spider shushed James and laid a tender finger on the boy's lips.

"Do not think of them now," she said gently and still smiled and continued her weaving.

"But what if they find us?" James asked nervously. "What if we don't make it to New York? I'll die if I have to go back to the way I was. They can't make me…"

"No one can make you do anything James…" Miss Spider clutched his hands and finished, "If you do not let them…" She covered James with his coat. "You are a brave boy…" she placed her hands gently on his face and kissed him on the forehead.

"Now to sleep," Miss Spider said as she crawled back into her pipe. "You have had a tired making day." She blew out the candle and gave the boy one more look and she laid herself down and drifted off to sleep.

James watched the moonbeam shined on his face, he yawned, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Butterfly woke up and looked at the ceiling in her high-heeled shoe bed.

"Perhaps I should see how Centipede is doing," she said. "Maybe he could use some help."

Dragonfly woke up and he followed Butterfly out of the peach.

"Hey lass," he said. Butterfly jumped and saw Dragonfly awake.

"Dragonfly? What are you doing up so late?"

"Same question lass, I t'ought I s'ould get a wee bit o' air an' smoke me pipe."

"I thought I would help Centipede," Miss Butterfly said. "Incase he gets sleepy."

The two insects got out and saw a sleepy Centipede ready to doze off.

"Centipede?" Butterfly spoke up.

"Laddie?"

"Huh?" Centipede jumped in fright and then relaxed when it was Butterfly and Dragonfly.

"Oh hey guys," he said.

"I was wondering if you need my help with steering the peach?" Butterfly noticed Centipede was tired.

"No thanks," he said. "I can do it."

"Suit yerself laddie," Dragonfly took out his pipe and lit it with a match and puffed out the smoke.

"So are you guys excited to go to New York?" Centipede asked.

"Aye lad," Dragonfly said. "Except I'm a wee bit nervous. Since we are enormous bugs, would the humans get scared of us?"

"Sacre bleu, that's what I was thinking Dragonfly!" Butterfly said. "But I'm a little scared."

"Of what?" Centipede asked.

"I have to admit, that I had a family, including my parents and mon sœurs."

"Mon sœurs?" Dragonfly asked as he nearly choked on his pipe.

"My sisters, but I was never close to any of them, until the day Spiker and Sponge killed my whole famille. I somehow felt regret at losing them, but I cannot change the past."

"Trust me lass," Dragonfly said. "Everyone makes mistakes and they teach us somethin' new. When I lost me fiancé, I was completely broke."

"You were planning to marry?" Centipede and Butterfly's eyes were widened.

"Aye, Isabelle was t'e most beautiful dragonfly ever, we were plannin' to marry. But she was then sick and died."

"Oh I'm so sorry Dragonfly," Butterfly said placing her hands on his shoulders and kissed his cheek."

"It's all right," Dragonfly said. "After me Isabelle died, I left me family in Scotland to live in England an' that's when we met. Maybe there'd be another lass fer me."

"No worries buddy," Centipede said giving Dragonfly a pat on the shoulder. "You'll find the one."

"Thank ye," he said smiling as he wiped his tears.

"I'm going to bed," Butterfly said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"I'm gonna finish my pipe and I'll join ye," Dragonfly said. "Good night lass and lad."

"Good night Dragonfly," Butterfly said. "Good night Centipede."

"Night guys," the others went back down in the peach and Centipede stood at the stem.

* * *

Diana was sitting on the fence pathway and looked at the stars, she had her sketchbook on her lap and she was drawing her friend Jenna dressed in an evening gown singing on the stage.

"I hope my artwork gets accepted when we get to New York," Diana said hopefully, she then frowned and felt sad. "But what if we don't make it?"

I stood out of the peach for some air and decided to sit on the fence pathway and then to my surprise, I saw Diana drawing in her sketchbook.

"Hi Diana," I said. Diana jumped in fear, she turned around and was relieved to see it was me.

"Oh hi Jenna. How are you?"

"I'm all right," I said as I sat next to her. "What are you doing outside of the peach?"

"I'm… just feeling excited to see New York City, especially nervous. How about you?"

"Oh," I said with my heart lowering in my chest. "I don't know, I am looking forward, but I am really nervous."

"Don't worry," Diana placed her hand on my shoulder. "It's gonna be fine, we must have hope. You'll see."

"Oh good, I hope I never go back to my old life," I said. "My family hardly pays attention to what I want and I had to get away. What if they don't like me if I came back?"

"I'm sure your family loves you," Diana hugged me and I returned it. "I had to get away from my father too. But as long as we're here, we got each other. "I think we're best friends now. But I feel that you… are like… a sister to me."

Diana's words warmed me to the core, I never heard her say anything that was so kind.

"Thank you," I said. I then looked at the stars. "With us on the peach and being with our friends, I feel that we are free. And I've never been that high before."

"I feel like we are above the world, and get to see things down there," Diana said. We looked down at the sea and clouds below us and then I started to sing.

" _Gazing down from the top of the world_

 _Suddenly seeing a different city._

 _Things look tiny and friendly and fair,_

 _Seen from the top of the world."_

Diana sang another verse.

" _When you look from high above,_

 _Everything seems pretty._

 _Seeing life from the top of the world,_

 _Nothing needs fighting and no one needs pity."_

We both sang together.

" _Thanks for giving this moment to me,_

 _When just a moment things stop,_

 _Here at the top of the world."_

Shooting stars flew in the sky and little did we know that Dragonfly, Mr. Grasshopper, and Butterfly were above us and watched us sing and they joined in song.

" _For all these years,"_ Dragonfly sang.

 _You've stayed alone."_

" _And free from danger."_ Butterfly sang.

" _We shared your fears,"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang.

" _It wasn't safe to trust a stranger."_ Dragonfly sang.

" _But maybe we were wrong here,"_ Miss Butterfly sang.

" _Could she belong here?"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang.

" _This girl appears."_

" _And she is kind,"_ Miss Butterfly sang.

" _And we're admitting,"_ They all sang.

" _We give three cheers!_

 _To see you both forever sitting_

 _Look at you sitting_

 _On top of the world!"_

Diana and I sang the verse as the others did.

" _Seeing life from the top of the world,"_ Diana and I.

" _This girl appears," the others sang._

" _Nothing needs fighting and no one needs pity."_

" _And she is kind,_

" _And we're admitting,_

 _We give three cheers_

" _Thanks for giving this moment to me."_

" _To see you both forever sitting,"_

" _When just a moment things stop,_

 _Here at the top of the world."_

" _On top of the world…"_

" _Here at the top of the world."  
_

" _Girls say something,"_ the bugs sang.

" _Take our advice,_

 _Be brave and say something_

 _Please don't think twice,_

 _Girls, say some-"_

"Um…. Jenna," Diana stuttered.

"Yes?" I asked smiling kindly at my friend.

" _I… I…. It's nice,_

 _The two of us sitting…"_

" _The two of us sitting,"_ I sang.

" _The two of you sitting…."_ The bugs sang.

" _Sitting on top of the world!"_ Diana and I leaned back as we raised our arms holding onto the note. It felt as if we were set free and we leaned forward and placed our hands together and smiled.

"What lovey voices ye 'ave lassies!" Diana and I jumped in fear and we looked behind to see Dragonfly, Mr. Grasshopper, and Butterfly walking towards us.

"Oh, merci, Dragonfly," I said.

"We appreciate that," Diana said.

"We never heard such great voices," Mr. Grasshopper said. "Even if it is not in opera."

"Yes," I then frown. "One thing that worries me is that if I sang in front of the crowd, I fear that they'd boo at me and throw food."

"Oh sweetheart," Butterfly placed her hands on my cheeks. "No one would ever boo at you. You must do your best and you'll shine like a star. When we heard you sing earlier, you had the voice of an angel. It was so beautiful."

"Oh, thank you," I said.

"So 'ow did ye lassies get to England?" Dragonfly asked. "You don't 'ave to saw anything."

"Well, I came to England because I've been fighting with my father," Diana said. "And I felt that nothing was getting better. So I ran away."

"I left too to get some time off," I said. "I thought a vacation would be good for me. Even I have difficult time getting along with my father. But I have my sister, who is in college and having her own life. We still love each other, and I had no idea what to do with my future. So I left home to have a holiday, but my sister wants me to be happy, whatever I decide."

"You must have a wonderful sister Miss Jenna," Mr. Grasshopper said. "But if we make it to New York and get accepted, maybe you'll invite your sister and we would love to meet her."

"I agree," I said.

"We better get some sleep," Diana said as she got up. "We'll need our strength to reach New York tomorrow."

The five of us went into the peach pit and we fell asleep in our beds. The next day couldn't get worse, or could it?

* * *

 **This song I was singing with Diana is called Top of the World, it's from the new Broadway musical "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," it's where Quasimodo and Esmeralda start bonding on their friendship and the gargoyles encouraged Quasi to be brave and impress Esmeralda.**


	7. The Arctic

**Hey guys, I know it's been a while. But I'm back! My energy is back and I thought I take a little break from my BFG story, but I'm still planning on my battle. I hope you guys like it. Please read and review!**

* * *

 _In James's dream, he was a light green caterpillar with black and white stripes, with orange spots, rosy cheeks and red antennas. As he was eating a peach, he heard a loud sound and he looked up and gasped as he saw an old car driving on a bridge and it stopped and he saw Spiker looking at him and she said to Sponge,_

 _"Look! The little maggot is stuffing his face with our peach! Get him Sponge."_

 _"Ahhh!" James screamed as he jumped behind the peach._

 _"You can't crawl away from us!" Sponge said as she proofed out some smoke filled with lightning and it started to follow James._

 _James ran for his life on the stone wall and the smoke was gaining on him. He jumped on a tree branch and kept sprinting from the smoke._

 _He heard he aunts chanting, "The rhino will get you! The rhino will get you!"_

 _He ran through a broken can and jumped in a hole to hide. He was trapped and the smoke headed straight towards him and there was the rhino charging towards him with his yellow eyes staring at him, the very same rhino that killed his mother and father._

 _James screamed as the dreamed ended._

The next morning, I woke up and rubbed my eyes and felt very cold. My bare arms were covered in goose bumps and I noticed Diana waking up and shivered.

She noticed snow was coming down.

We turned around and saw James shuddering from his dream, we headed towards him and Diana gently shook him and he woke up and gasped.

"James are you okay?" she asked hugging James.

"Yes, I think so," James hugged her.

"Don't worry, it was only a dream," I said.

James sat up freezing. He put his coat on to stay warm and Diana and I wrapped our selves in blankets.

We looked up at the lantern and saw Glowworm shivering. James, Diana and I climbed out of the hole to see where we are. We were all shocked to see that we were not in New York City.

We were in the Arctic filled with icebergs, a graveyard of sunken pirate ships that were broken and the wood was rotting away and ships made of steel also.

I felt shivers coming up and down my spine at the sight. My friends and I saw the pieces of cracked ice in the water and looked up to see the seagulls still flying with their bodies and wings frozen almost like frozen statues.

"This is an outrage!" The shouting startled James, Diana, and me; the voice was none other than Mr. Grasshopper. We looked over and saw Mr. Grasshopper, Mrs. Ladybug, Dragonfly, Butterfly, and Earthworm cornering Centipede on the fence pathway.

"You are a disgrace to your phylum, class, order, genus, and species!" Mr. Grasshopper shouted to Centipede in a way to scold a person.

"Say it in English!" Centipede shot back at Mr. Grasshopper.

"You, sir, are an ass!" Mr. Grasshopper shouted back at Centipede.

"Where are we?" asked James. "What's going on?"

"What is the meaning of this?" Penelope asked the others as she tightened her sarong around her shoulders.

"I found this dime-store Timmy asleep at the helm," Mr. Grasshopper said to us evenly as he raised his voice as he poked Centipede in the chest. "Now we're lost!"

"We are not lost!" Centipede snapped back.

"Then where are we?" asked Mr. Grasshopper impatiently.

"Somewhere north, or possibly very, very far south."

"What's your latitude? What's your longitude?"

"W'at is ye north, south, east and west?" Dragonfly asked.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Centipede yelled. "That's personal, bub."

"You said you could navigate!" Said Mr. Grasshopper sharply.

"You said you traveled the world," said Mrs. Ladybug.

"You said you'd been to Bora Bora!" said Earthworm.

"Ye said ye were experienced laddie," Dragonfly said.

"Was it all a lie?" Butterfly asked pitifully.

"Well, not Bora Bora, per se, uh—" Centipede trailed off as he backed up from Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, Mrs. Ladybug, Butterfly, and Earthworm.

"What about the shores of Tripoli?" Miss Spider asked.

"Did I say Tripoli?" asked Centipede and he chuckled. "I meant the Halls of Montezuma."

"That's what you said," said Earthworm angrily.

"Never have I heard such mendacity!" shouted Mr. Grasshopper, who is getting angrier.

"Charlatan!" shouted Mrs. Ladybug.

"Liar!" Dragonfly shouted.

"You're a deceiver!" Butterfly yelled.

"Wait!" shouted James and tried to reason with Centipede.

"Stop it!" I yelled.

"Hold it right there," Diana said.

"If he says he's seen the world, then he's seen the world," James said. "Right, Mr. Centipede? Right?"

"Is this true Mr. Centipede?" Diana asked firmly.

"This has got to be a joke right?" I asked

"Well… I did used to live between two pages of a National Geographic."

"Huh?" Asked James.

"What?" Diana asked as her brown eyes widened. "Are you kidding me?"

"Centipede," I said as my eyes were filled with tears. "How could you?"

Everyone gasped and learned that Centipede lied to them about traveling around the world.

"Very informative magazine, National Geographic," Centipede said. "Wonderful pictures."

"You incompetent, blithering nitwit!" Mr. Grasshopper lost his temper.

Centipede put down his cigar and got himself ready to fight Mr. Grasshopper.

"All right hoppy! Them's fightin' words. Put 'em up! Put 'em up! Come on!" Centipede yelled and made punching moves with encouragement, "Gimme your best shot."

Then all of a sudden, Mr. Grasshopper kicked Centipede hard in the jaw with his left leg.

"Whoa. Good shot," Centipede fell back and said while rubbing his cheek, He spit out a lose tooth and looked at us. "Did you see what he did to me?"

"Hmph! Serves ya right," Mrs. Ladybug sternly as she, Mr. Grasshopper, and Earthworm turned around without helping Centipede up. Dragonfly and Butterfly stood there glaring at him.

"Dragonfly…." Centipede said. "Please… I…"

"I can't believe ye," Dragonfly snapped. "I t'ought ye were me best friend. Ye are an idiot!" He then stormed off. Only Butterfly stood there in anger and sorrow.

"Butterfly," Centipede looked at the winged insect. "I…"

"You're a liar!" she yelled. "I thought you were my friend. I thought you were unselfish. I… I guess I was wrong. You're a coward! Tu es stupide!"

Butterfly turned her back away from him and walked away and put one of her right arms on her chest with her eyes squeezed shut. Just when she was able to make a friend, who would've been a brother-like figure, she learned that he deceived everyone in the peach. Deceived even the one he fell in love with Miss Spider. She felt her emotions coursing through her mind and leaving her entire body.

"Why would anyone have the heart to do something like that?" she thought. "Why do I have to stay positive now? Why do I have to stop being afraid? Why do I want to have friends?"

Centipede sat on the fence pathway feeling extremely guilty for lying, after everyone walked away from him.

"What do we do now?" James asked. "Which way do we go?"

"Is there any other way we can get out of this frozen hole?" I asked.

"If we don't get out of here," Diana said. "We'll die and freeze to death."

"Oh it's very simple, really," Mr. Grasshopper said. "All we need to do is to determine our coordinates, then use triangulation to chart a direct route to New York."

"Then there's hope," said Earthworm.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Mr. Grasshopper as he poked Earthworm in the nose and finished his sentence. "There's no hope at all! We don't have a compass."

"We'll never reach New York," Earthworm said sadly. "We're gonna be stuck here forever. We're gonna be frozen like living statues."

" _Dead_ living statues," said Mr. Grasshopper.

"I could not agree with you more…" Butterfly said.

Centipede overheard us and started to feel a sharp pain in his chest. Was it shame? The bugs continued to speak.

"No dark hiding places," said Miss Spider sadly.

"No new inventions," Dragonfly said sadly.

"No cozy leaf in the park," replied Mrs. Ladybug with sadness in her voice.

"No city where dreams come true," said James sadly.

"There's nothing we can do," Diana and I said.

Centipede felt those words cut deep into his heart, now he felt even guiltier. He sank down and placed two of his hands on his face and was close enough to cry. Thanks to him, they were all going to die and not make it anywhere.

"Don't ships have compasses?" James asked.

"No doubt. But to brave those icy waters…" Mr. Grasshopper said. "Would mean certain death. Only a fool would do it."

Diana and I walked over to the side to see Centipede filled with regret at every word the others said. Filled with determination, he put his cap on his head and his cigar in his mouth.

"Geronimo!" he dove off the pathway fence and landed in the water. The others heard the splash and came over to where we were standing.

"What? What was that?" cried Earthworm.

"The Centipede jumped in!" James cried.

The others gasped in shock.

"He did what?!" Butterfly exclaimed and thought to herself. "What kind of idiot would do that?!"

"Holy typhoons!" I cried.

"Is he outta his mind?" Diana cried.

"Good heavens!" cried Mr. Grasshopper. "He's committed pesticide. Oh, this is all my doing.""

He leaned forward sadly and as he blamed himself for what he did with Centipede.

"Don't take all the credit," said Earthworm and blamed him self too and said, "I helped too."

"Don't blame ye selves, I did it too!" Dragonfly said.

"I have to go after him!" said James with determination.

"Not on your life," but Mrs. Ladybug put her hand on James's shoulder. "You'll catch your death in cold."

"But he's my friend," James said. Diana and I knew he was advocating for himself.

"James is right," Miss Spider agreed. "Centipede is one of us. Get on my back. I'm going with you."

As James climbed on Miss Spider's back, Butterfly grabbed the arachnid's hand.

"You guys are not going there…" she said. Everyone stared at her until she had a response. "Without me."

Miss Spider nodded in agreement.

"You had better take good care of him," Mrs. Ladybug said.

"This I promise," said Miss Spider.

"Trust us," Butterfly said.

"We're going with you," Diana said.

The bugs and James looked at Diana and I. We took our blankets off.

"We can help," I said.

"Oui mon amies," Butterfly said as she winked.

Diana and I walked over to Miss Spider and got on her back just as James has. Butterfly stood by our side while Miss Spider get her string and gave it to Mr. Grasshopper and the others.

"Stay by the line," James said. "And when you feel two tugs, pull us up."

"We'll be back in fifteen to twenty minutes," Diana said.

Miss Spider jumped off the peach and we were lowered into the water with Butterfly.

Once we were in the water, we could see and breathe underwater. I felt that the crocodile tongues were helping us breathe underwater.

Miss Spider swam deeper into the water. James, Diana, Butterfly and I looked around and saw a figurehead that looks exactly like Spiker and Sponge.

We kept swimming and a thought came into the girl's head.

"Hey guys," I said. "You don't suppose that Centipede was trying to find a compass right?"

"He must have felt bad for himself after lying to us and wanted to make things right and prove himself," Diana said. "With all those sunken ships, I remember that pirates use compasses to help navigate in seas."

"You could be right Jenna and Diana," James said. "No matter what mistakes he or we make, he still counts as our friend."

"Let's keep going, I can sense him nearby," Miss Spider said.

"We should be getting close," Butterfly said. "I do hope he is not dead."

We swam down into the deep dark sea.

* * *

 **More chapters will be posted soon and another opera song too! Will we be able to rescue Centipede? To be continued...**


	8. Skeleton Pirates

Centipede reached the sunken pirate, he walked on the deck and whistled a tune as he opened the door that goes into the captain's cabin. Sitting at the desk was a dead skeleton pirate captain sitting at his desk.

"A skellington?" he was astonished.

Centipede tip-toed up to the desk slowly and when he reached it he noticed the dead captain was leaning over an object. He took out his cigar and blew on top of the desk and it showed a glowing object that had an arrow pointing north.

"Jackpot! A genuine compass!" he exclaimed with a smile.

Centipede put the cigar back in his mouth and lifted the captain's arm and it made a squeaking sound as if he were rusted and lifted his head.

"Sounds like you need a little oil, Captain."

The captain fell forward as if he fell asleep and the giant incest took the compass.

"Thank you, sir! I'll be shovin' off now," Centipede lifted his arm like a soldier. As he walked away carrying the compass and smiling, he was hoping that Hoppy and the others would feel sorry for themselves for what they did to him and apologize. He would also apologize to them too.

Centipede thought he was getting somewhere but he felt that something was pulling back on his suspenders. Centipede looked back and saw the skellington pirate captain and he's alive! He was growling and holding on to his suspenders tightly.

"Ahh! I should've worn a belt!" Centipede scolded him self and ran out of the door hoping to escape. As he got there, dead ghost skeleton pirates appeared.

"Holy shipwreck!" Centipede screamed as he was pulled back into the creepy arms of the captain and he smiled evilly planning to do something bad.

* * *

James, Miss Spider, Butterfly, Diana and I swam down into the sea, and we spotted a pirate ship at the bottom.

"I'll bet Centipede's there," Diana said with heart.

"Let's find him," James said.

Miss Spider swam to the crow's nest and after landing, James, Diana, and I got down from Miss Spider's back and the arachnid with the help of Butterfly tied the string to the mast.

"Look down there," Diana said.

James and I looked over on the side of the crow's nest with Diana. We saw Centipede being stretched over the platform by ghost pirates with a compass on his stomach and he was screaming in pain.

Miss Spider and Butterfly came to us to see what was happening and looked at each other and gasped. We watched him begging for mercy.

"Listen fellas," Centipede said. "I've got a long history of back problems and I don't need it any longer!" The captain took the compass off of Centipede's stomach. The pirates kept stretching him longer, he screamed in pain and they could hear his bones cracking.

"Hey, that one felt pretty good," Centipede chuckled.

Then another gigantic skeleton Viking walked up and carried an axe and as he growled.

"It's Paul Bunyan coming to cut me some slack," Centipede laughed. The pirate raised his axe above his head and my heart started to beat faster. "Whoa! Hey, pal, you're aiming' a little low," Centipede said calmly and he screamed, "HE'S GONNA CUT ME IN HALF!"

I looked at James with terrified eyes and saw him jump off the crow's nest and without thinking, Diana and I jumped after him. Miss Spider and Butterfly's eyes widened and they jumped after is. We landed on the Viking skeleton's back and he fell forward and went overboard off the ship.

"Hey, sailors!" Miss Spider called.

"There are ladies here as well!" Butterfly announced.

"Looking for some kicks?" Miss Spider asked as she and Butterfly landed on the winch and kicked the pirates in the heads with their legs.

"My kinda girl idol!" Diana cried, as Miss Spider and Butterfly's moves impressed us. After the winches loosened Centipede, he fell down into the platform.

"Cut me loose," he called.

James to the side and tried to pull out the axe and as Diana and I helped him; we did not see the pirate captain coming towards us from behind.

After we pulled the axe out, it hit the captain and his head fell off, he grabbed the rope and pulled up Centipede.

"Get the compass!" he called.

As the captain was looking for his head, the compass was rolling over to the side of the ship and before it fell Miss Spider caught it just in time.

"I've got it." She called to us.

"Wonderful Miss Spider!" I called.

Miss Butterfly turned to smile at her until she saw another Eskimo skeleton with a spear and yelled, "Ubutu!"

"Miss Spider! Look out!" Butterfly exclaimed as she ran to Miss Spider's direction.

Miss Spider turned around and saw the Eskimo skeleton coming towards her. She jumped high and the Eskimo skeleton fell forward with his spear sticking in the floor as the arachnid came down.

He let go of the spear, kicked her and Miss Spider went spinning forward and yelled, "Whoa-oo!" She flew staright into the direction Butterfly was in.

"Look out Butterfly!" Diana cried.

Before Butterfly could jump, Miss Spider crashed into her and the two spun around in the water. One of the skeleton pirates grabbed his friend's hands and used them to grab the compass out of Miss Spider's hands.

Just as the captain put his head back on, Miss Spider and Butterfly crashed into him and his head flew back into the pirate's hands knocking out the compass.

"Gotcha!" James caught the compass.

"Great job James," Diana said.

Then a skeleton parrot flew and grabbed the compass. I ran over to James and helped him pull the compass from the skeleton parrot but he flew away with it.

"Polly want a smacker?" Centipede yelled as he crashed into the parrot.

The parrot crashed into the wall with his beak stuck. Centipede grabbed the compass and he swung up to the crow's nest.

"Look out!" he called out to us.

The pirate attacked them and Miss Spider kicked him with her leg, as Butterfly and Diana were about to be attacked, I jumped and shoved them out of the way. I then felt something slashing my arm, I let out a cry of pain, and I looked to see that my arm was cut with his sword and red blood was staining my jean jacket. Butterfly kicked him and Diana help her pull me up to the ladder of the crow's nest.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, Mrs. Ladybug and Earthworm stood near the line and heard the others in the sea screaming.

"Sounds like big trouble!" Earthworm exclaimed.

"I can 'ear 'em!" Dragonfly called. "Centipede must be there!"

"Get ready to pull!" Mr. Grasshopper said.

The bugs grabbed the string and prepared themselves, if they feel two tugs.

* * *

Back in the sea, the others and I were exhausted as they climbed the crow's nest and prepare the escape.

"I got a good one for ya," Centipede said as he helped James, Diana, Butterfly, Miss Spider, and I into the crow's nest as he untied the string. "Why don't skeletons play music in church?"

They watched the pirates climbing up and my heart was racing with adrenaline. I held onto held onto Diana.

" 'Cause they got no organs!" Centipede got on top of Miss Spider and laughed and pulled the string two times with the sound of a bell ringing. Miss Spider grabbed Butterfly and us. I clutched my injured bloody arm. James was holding on to the compass and we were yanked up.

Then the pirate captain jumped up and was about to stab James with his sword. Centipede was in between James and the captain. He and the captain fell into the crow's nest. We watched him fight the other pirates and all cried out at the same time, "Noooo!"

We were hoisted out of the water, and we were all shivering.

"Oh, thank goodness! You're all right!" Mrs. Ladybug called to us with relief.

"We are," Butterfly said.

"What happened to Centipede?" Asked Mr. Grasshopper as we reached the fence pathway.

"He found a compass for us," said Miss Spider as she held it up.

"And a shipload of pirates!" cried James.

"Pirates?" Dragonfly asked as everyone gasped.

"Skeleton pirates to be exact!" I cried out.

"How much?" Earthworm asked.

"TONS!" Butterfly exclaimed.

"It was the most craziest thing that ever happened to us!" Diana said.

As we got off of Miss Spider, Mrs. Ladybug wrapped blankets around our shoulders.

I looked at the sleeve of my jacket, the sleeve was cut and more blood gave my jacket a really big stain.

"Lass!" Dragonfly exclaimed. "What 'appened to ye arm?"

"One of the pirates slashed my arm when I pushed Diana and Butterfly out of the way," I slowly removed my jacked and there was blood staining my skin.

"We better have that treated," Mrs. Ladybug said. "I might have a first aid kit with me."

Dragonfly hugged me close and rubbed my shoulders to warm me up.

"Hold this," Miss Spider shoved the compass into Earthworm's mouth. "I am going back."

"Do be careful, Miss Spider," said Mr. Grasshopper.

Diana, James, the bugs, and I watched Miss Spider landing on the ice and just as she was about to dive in, Centipede's cap resurfaced.

Miss Spider gasped and she took the cap. She turned to us as a tear slid down her cheek. It shocked us. It turned out Centipede is dead.

"Poor Centipede," Mr. Grasshopper said sadly as he knelt down in sorrow,

"He saved our lives down there," said James.

"This wasn't supposed to happen…," Butterfly said, starting to feel tears rolling down her cheeks. Thoughts ran through her mind rapidly. "Before he jumped in… I said awful things to him. I didn't want to trust anyone. This is all my fault…"

"We can all forgive him for what he did," I said as tears leaked out of my eyes and I hugged Diana. We were overcome with emotions.

"I'm going to miss him," she said.

"Same here."

Our mourning was cut short when a pirate's hat resurfacing with a sword.

"Look out!" cried James.

"Miss Spider!" cried Mrs. Ladybug.

"They're back!" Dragonfly exclaimed.

Miss Spider gasped and backed away. It turned out that it was Centipede dressed as a general!

"Centipede!" James cried.

"You're alive!" I placed a hand to my chest as my heartbeat slowed down and felt relief.

"How am I lookin' kid?" he asked them grinning.

"You look very handsome!" Diana called to him with a smile on her face.

Miss Spider walked up to him angrily scaring the jeepers out of Centipede and pressed the sword against Centipede's throat.

"Centipede, I do not know whether to kill you or…" she put the sword down and kissed Centipede on the cheek and then smiled, "Kiss you."

We giggled as Centipede blushed from the kiss. "And by the way, that hat looks good on you."

Centipede was speechless, he kept blushing and his smile was bigger that ever.

"That really is the Centipede I know," Butterfly said as her blue eyes were filled with joy and pride. Diana and I were smiling like crazy.

After pulling Centipede and Miss Spider to the fence pathway, Mr. Grasshopper and Dragonfly admitted to him.

"I'm so sorry," Mr. Grasshopper said.

"Hey, I'm sorry," said Centipede.

"My sincere apologies," Mr. Grasshopper said.

"Sorry Dragonfly," Centipede said.

"I am sorry too," Dragonfly said firmly as he gave a glare. "But don't ye _ever_ do t'at again."

"I won't," Centipede said.

"I know," Dragonfly hugged him and Centipede blushed.

Centipede turned to Mr. Grasshopper.

"I just wanna apologize."

"I just wanted to say—"

"What I'm tryin' to say—"

"That's enough chitchat!" Earthworm interrupted and he had the pirate's hat on his head. "I'm freezin'!"

Diana and I walked up to James. The boy placed the compass on the stem.

"Hello? The compass is ready!"

"Oh wonderful!" Diana said.

"I'm so ready to leave this frozen place and go to NYC!" I exclaimed as I threw my arms up and I felt another shock of pain in my injured arm.

"Mr. Centipede, would you please do us the honor of navigating us out of this icebox?" Mr. Grasshopper asked and bowed with courtesy.

"It would be my pleasure," Centipede said.

"Let's get outta 'ere," Dragonfly said. He, Mr. Grasshopper, Centipede, and Earthworm walked up the fence pathway to join the children.

"I admire your bravery, Miss Spider and Butterfly," Mrs. Ladybug said kindly as she took out two more blankets and she threw over their backs. "I really do."

"Why… thank you, Mrs. Ladybug," Miss Spider said as she was touched by these words.

"I appreciate how you admire us," Butterfly said as her hands were on her chest, smiling brightly.

Diana and I turned to the other side and saw James, Centipede, Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, and Earthworm gathering around the peach stem.

"All right, boys, coffee break's over," Centipede leaped onto the stem and grabbed the strings the seagulls were on and as he shook the strings, the ice came off of the seagulls and they flew better. The peach was turned to the direction west.

"I'm looking forward to a hopping good time…" Mr. Grasshopper said. "In the Big Apple Mr. Centipede."

"You said it, Mr. Grasshopper," said Centipede.

"Absolutely," Dragonfly said.

The peach flew out of the Arctic and everything started to warm up around in their surroundings and now we were back on course to the city where dreams come true. Everyone was looking forward to New York City.

* * *

Dragonfly carried me in bridal style in case I lose more blood and took me back in the peach with the others. He laid me gently me on the glove. Mrs. Ladybug grabbed a first-aid kit from her purse and sat down next to me, while Diana, Miss Spider, and Butterfly were sitting at my side.

Mrs. Ladybug numbed my right arm with a syringe, and I clenched my teeth in pain and held very still. Butterfly grabbed some salt water from the sea to clean the blood off with a rag, it stung a little and I sort of winced.

Mrs. Ladybug grabbed a sewing needle and thread and started to sew up my cut. Diana gave her a bandage and bandaged up my cut.

"You're all set dearie," Mrs. Ladybug said. "It will heal, but you may have a little scar."

"Thank you Mrs. Ladybug," I said smiling and I looked at the girls. "Thank you for being at my side girls."

"You're welcome," they said smiling and I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep.


	9. Chanson Boheme

As soon as we got out of the Artic, I woke up to see the others sitting around the table eating more of the peach, and drinking peach juice. I got up and palced my jean jacket on my shoulders and sat at the table drinking peach juice, imaging I was on the stage as Carmen as Act Two started, I imagined Diana and Butterfly as Carmen's friends Frasquita and Mercedes in Lillas Pastia's tavern. They were sitting near me at the bucket drinking peach juice. James sat near me and I wrapped my arm around his shoulder.

Then the music started to paly and the flute duet was playing elegantly as if the gypsies were dancing. Miss Spider started dancing as the music played. The violins played sternly as I turned around to face an imaginary audience. Then the violins played sternly again and higher and then calmly as Miss Spider kept dancing, I then sang in my mezzo soprano singing opera voice.

" _The sounds of sistrum bars did greet,_

 _Their ears with dry metallic ringing,_

 _To this strange music soon up springing,_

 _The gypsy girls were on their feet."_

Miss Spider tapped her boots and danced with my voice as if I were a siren luring a sailor to the waters.

" _The rattling ringing tambourine,_

 _And twanging of guitars now mingled._

 _And pinch'd and pounded, throbbed and jingled,_

 _Alike in time, alike in tune;_

 _Alike in time, alike in tune."_

I sung my favorite part of the song, as Centipede got up to dance with Miss Spider and she accepted.

" _Tra la la laaa,_

 _Tra la la laaaa._

 _Tra la la laaaa._

 _Tra la la la la la la laaa."_

Diana and Miss Butterfly joined me in the refrain,

" _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la la la la la laaaa."_

Then Dragonfly and Mrs. Ladybug got up and started dancing.

" _Set off by tawny skins are rings,_

 _Of silver and of copper flashing,"_

I stood up and I moved my hands over my fingers as if they were exposing rings.

" _In measure with the music clashing,_

 _Mantles flying like waving wings."_

Mrs. Ladybug and Dragonfly tapped their shoes to the flowing music. I removed my jean jacket to show that my dress was held up by spaghetti straps and exposed my bare arms.

" _The singers' mood the dancers feel,"_ I clapped my hands.

" _The singers' mood the dancers feel,"_ I clapped my hands again.

" _With slow and timid steps beginning, then fast and faster._

 _They are spinning,_

 _And wilder, wilder, wilder grows the reel!_

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la la la la la laaa."_

Diana, Butterfly, and I sang, as I danced.

" _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la la la la la laaaa."_

Dragonfly tossed me a tambourine as I climbed up on the bucket. Everyone got up and started dancing.

" _With fingers fleet the gypsy boys,"_ I slapped the tambourine.

" _On string and leather romp and riot;"_ I slapped the tambourine again.

" _No gypsy maiden can sit quiet,"_ I hit the tambourine again.

" _Who hears that glorious, merry noise!"_ I shook the tambourine as the bugs including James danced. Diana and Butterfly got on the table and danced with me.

" _And, to the measure of the song,"_ I hit the tambourine again.

" _And, to the measure of the song,"_ I hit the tambourine again.

" _All join the glowing wanton revel:_

 _Round and round the ring, how they travel,_

 _Borne on whirlwinds of joy along!"_ I sang the word joy as higher my vocal cords could reach.

" _Tra la la laaa,"_ I hit the tambourine and everyone kept dancing.

" _Tra la la laaaa,"_

" _Tra la la laaaa,"_

" _Tra la la la la la la laaa."_

Diana and Butterfly sang with me again,

" _Tra la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaaa._

 _Tra la la laaaa._

 _Tra la la la la la la laaa._

 _Tra la la laaa!_

 _Tra la la laaa!_

 _Tra la la laaa!_

 _Tra la la laaa!"_

Everyone kept dancing and I started dancing on the bucket with Diana and Butterfly. I kept hitting the tambourine and I spun around on one foot. I clapped three times with the movements of my arms. Then I spun around again and I landed on the ground. I threw my arms up with my tambourine and smiled as the music stopped.

 **This song, Chanson Boheme is sung at the beginning of Act II from Carmen and it's one of my favorite songs. There's a piano version with the French and English Lyrics. There's more to come and I recommend you listen to these songs.**


	10. Sometimes Secretly and Family

_I credit this song, "Sometimes, Secretly" from the 1989 movie, "The BFG"_

* * *

In the late night, the peach flew above the clouds and Centipede was standing at the stem looking at the compass and made sure the compass is pointing east. Centipede was starting to yarn and was about to doze off.

"Oh boy, what I wouldn't do for a cup of coffee," he said to himself as he nearly dozed off, he jiggled his head and hit himself in the face to keep himself awake and muttered, "A cup of joe."

The hole opened and Mr. Grasshopper came out with a chair made from a match holder and a blanket.

"I say, old sport, came to relieve you of your duties."

"I said I'd steer the peach," Centipede yawned. "Have to steer the peach."

Centipede yawned as Mr. Grasshopper placed the chair down and laid Centipede down onto the chair.

"Can't quit… now," muttered Centipede.

"Good show, old boy," said Mr. Grasshopper as he covered Centipede with the blanket.

"Thanks… Mr. Grasshopper," Centipede muttered as he fell into a deep sleep. Mr. Grasshopper took out his violin and played soft music.

* * *

Diana and I sat on the fence pathway. I looked at the stars and Diana looked into her sketchbook and did a few drawings.

"That was some journey, huh Jenna?" Diana asked smiling.

"Oh yes Diana," I said. "That journey was one of the craziest, but fun journey, I ever had in my life."

"Absolutely," Diana replied. "We escaped from Sponge and Spiker and the hill, we floated in the Atlantic Ocean, defeated a Robot shark and fought against skeleton pirates, and you singing Carmen, opera may not be my favorite, but to be honest you have the voice of the angel and can sing great. We even had amazing moments."

"Thank you Diana," I said. "No one has ever complimented on my singing nicely. Except my family, even though they do respect my love for classical music, they think that I shouldn't sing in public, since not a lot of people like opera."

"Yeah," Diana said. "Even artist jobs are hard to get, since I had a rough relationship with my dad."

"Mine too," I said. "Even my mom."

"And to be honest again," Diana said. "You are my best friend and more like a sister to me."

I then started to sing

" _Sometimes, secretly_

 _We'd all like to know_

 _Of somewhere safe in dreams_

 _Where no one else can go._

Diana then sang.

 _Away from the clouds,_

 _Where nothing is louder_

 _Than night falling around_

 _And you tumble and glide_

 _On a magical ride_

 _Don't wake,_

 _You'd have to come down_

We sang together.

 _And sometimes, secretly_

 _We all need to know,_

 _There's somewhere deep in dreams_

 _Where only we can go._

I sang again.

 _If you could stay forever,_

 _Would you?_

We sang together.

 _Somewhere_

 _Safe in dreams_

 _Where no one else can go._

Diana and I hugged each other in love and friendship.

* * *

James was sitting on the fence pathway and read the travel book his father gave him. There was now a big loop and now they were back on course to New York City. He felt excited and nervous at the same time. He heard the song Jenna and Diana were singing, and he kept on reading his travel book and smiled at the thought of the girls singing.

"Hmmm," he mused. "These girls really are great friends, and great friends to me too. I hope their dreams come true as soon as we get to New York City."

All of a sudden beautiful violin music was playing softly, James thought about it and he walked up the fence pathway and thought to himself, "Who could be playing that beautiful music? It sounds so familiar."

As he reached the top, James saw Mr. Grasshopper playing his violin as Centipede was still sleeping.

"That music!" James cried.

Mr. Grasshopper jumped up and he realized it was the boy, "Oh sir James! Did…did I disturb you? So sorry, I'll… I'll put this away."

Mr. Grasshopper was about to put his violin away in his case.

"No, no!" cried James. "I like it! I used to hear it at my aunt's house before I went to sleep."

"You're pretty smart young James."

The boy gasped.

"So that was you, wasn't it? Playing that music or do all grasshoppers play music?" he asked.

"All grasshoppers…try." Mr. Grasshopper said. "I'm sure you've heard this."

He lied on his back and rubbed his legs together and made a sound just like crickets, James nodded as he remembered hearing the sound at night.

"Ghastly isn't it? Cricket stuff." Said Mr. Grasshopper. "Music should be the voice of the soul."

James raised eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" Asked James.

"It means when I'm happy, my music sounds like this." Mr. Grasshopper played his music in a joyful sound making James smiled and nodded his head to the song and after finishing his song, he clapped.

"When I'm sad, it's like this…"

He played a slow, but a classical tune like a song at a funeral. The boy frowned and felt his eyes filling with tears.

"When I was sad, I used to climb in bed with my mum and dad," James said as his eyes were filled with tears and he quickly dried them away. "But that was a long time ago."

Mr. Grasshopper placed a hand on James's shoulder.

"I'm sure they'd be very proud of you, James. I know we are."

He hopped up on the stem and started to play a song on his violin in an upbeat tune and the others, Mrs. Ladybug, Earthworm, Miss Spider, Dragonfly, Butterfly and Glowworm inside the peach woke up.

* * *

Even Diana and I heard the music playing from the top of the peach, and curious we went up to see Mr. Grasshopper laying his violin. James and Centipede were there.

"He really is a pro," Diana said.

"Tell me about it," I said. Mr. Grasshopper noticed us and smiled as we stood near James.

 _"Take a little time,"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang and danced.

 _Just look at where we are,_

 _We've come very, very, far together._

 _"And if I might say so,"_ Mr. Grasshopper leaned towards us.

Centipede woke up and joined Mr. Grasshopper.

 _"And if I might say so too,"_ Centipede sang as he threw the blanket off.

 _"We wouldn't have got anywhere if it weren't for you, boy and girls."_ Mr. Grasshopper and Centipede sang as they both bowed to us.

James, Diana and I pointed to our selves and looked at each other. We grinned as we pointed at each other.

 _"Love is the sweetest thing,"_ Mrs. Ladybug came out of the hole.

 _"Love never comes just when you think it will,"_ Earthworm sang as he slithered out of the hole.

" _Love is a special feeling,"_ Butterfly sang.

" _Love is like an open door,"_ Dragonfly sang as he stepped out.

 _"Love is the way we feel for you,"_ Miss Spider came out last and sang gently.

 _"We're family,"_ sang Mr. Grasshopper.

" _We're family,"_ Centipede, Dragonfly, and Mr. Grasshopper sang together.

 _"We're family!"_ The others sang with them.

 _"All of us,"_ sang Miss Spider.

 _"And you!"_ Mr. Grasshopper sang as he hopped up.

Up in the sky above the seagulls were two acrobats swinging on trapeze bars and when they let go of the bar, they grabbed their hands and flipped and grabbed the trapeze bars.

 _"Think of where we'd be if we were on our own…"_ Centipede sang as he was upside down.

"We'd be dead!" cried Earthworm

 _"You're what holds us all together,"_ sang Mrs. Ladybug.

"We are?" James, Diana, and I asked at the same time.

"Exactly," Dragonfly said.

"Why of course," Butterfly said.

 _"And if I might say so,"_ sang Centipede.

 _"And if we might say so too,"_ sang Mr. Grasshopper and Mrs. Ladybug.

" _We never could love anyone as much as…"_ Sang Mr. Grasshopper.

 _"We love you!"_ Everyone sang as they gathered around us and hugged us.

 _"Love!"_ Glowworm appeared and sang.

 _"Is the strangest thing!"_ Centipede and Miss Spider sang.

 _"Love!"_ sang Glowworm.

 _"Does exactly what it wants to do!"_ Mr. Grasshopper and Mrs.

Ladybug sang as they walked towards Glowworm.

 _"Love!"_ sang Glowworm as Centipede, Dragonfly, and Mr. Grasshopper helped Glowworm out.

 _"Boy, ya know it's true!"_ Centipede and Dragonfly sang as he and Mr. Grasshopper put Glowworm down.

 _"We're family! We're family! We're family!"_ Everyone danced around the peach.

 _"Me!"_ Sang Mr. Grasshopper.

 _"Me!"_ Sang Mr. Centipede.

" _Me!"_ Sang Dragonfly.

" _Me!"_ Sang Butterfly.

 _"Me!"_ Sang Earthworm.

 _"Me!"_ Sang Mrs. Ladybug.

 _"Me!"_ Sang Glowworm.

 _"And you!"_ Sang everyone.

 _"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!"_ Miss Spider and Butterfly sang as a dust figure beat a drum, and the drummer poured glitter on them.

 _"Without you there'd be no of us,"_ Everyone sang as Mr. Grasshopper picked up James and placed him on the stem. Diana and I stood by the side of the stem along with James. The others kept singing.

 _"Love… is the sweetest thing._

 _Love… does exactly what it wants to do!_

 _Love… is the way we feel for you!_

 _We're family. We're family."_

 _"We're family,"_ James sang.

" _We're family,"_ Diana and I sang.

 _"Me."_

 _"And…"_ Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, and Centipede helped him down.

 _"You!"_

Centipede took Miss Spider's hand and they danced slowly to the sweet violin music and Centipede took off his hat and like a gentleman kissed Miss Spider's hand. Butterfly smiled at the sight of them in love.

"They are definitely in love," I giggled and whispered to Diana.

"I couldn't agree with you more," Diana said as we both giggled together.

"We'll always be together, won't we?" Asked James.

"Will it always be forever and always?" I asked.

"Kid, you're stuck with us for life," Centipede took off his hat and placed it on James's head, he smiled at us, "You too, sweeties."

"I'd love to here that," Diana said.

A foghorn startled them and everyone looked over the side and saw the most beautiful sight. There were bright lights, I felt my heart beating faster in my chest, it's New York City!

"Look everybody!" Cried James, "We made it!"

"We did?" Asked Centipede.

"We sure did," Diana and I exclaimed.

"New York City!" Miss Spider cried.

"Breathtaking!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed.

"Magnifique!" Butterfly cried in satisfaction.

"Extraordinary!" Dragonfly cried.

"Stunning!" Earthworm cried.

"Glorious," said Mrs. Ladybug.

"Look at the park," said James as he pointed downwards.

"It's fascinating!" Diana cried.

"It's fabulous!" said Centipede.

"We have made it!" said Miss Spider as she hugged Diana, Butterfly, Mrs. Ladybug, and I. Tears came out of our eyes as we were filled with emotion.

"What a wonderful sight!" Mrs. Ladybug cried with tears of joy.

"It is indeed lovely!" Butterfly cried as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I knew we would make it!" I said as Dragonfly fly picked me up by the waist and spun me around.

"There's Lady Liberty!" Glowworm pointed to the Statue of Liberty holding a bright torch.

"Oh I can't believe we had made it!" Diana cried as she hugged me, and I hugged her back.

"I can almost smell that lovely dirt." Earthworm sniffed something familiar to him and grinned.

"It is quite the view, is it not?" Miss Spider said, filled with emotion.

"It is quite the view," I said.

James and Penelope both gasped as they saw the tallest building in the world.

"The Empire State Building!" the boy cried out as he pointed at it.

"I never expected it to be big!" Diana cried.

"See those lights!" Centipede chuckled and he grabbed Mr. Grasshopper's arm and spun him around startling the elderly incest.

"Wa-hoo! Yipee!" Atta boy, Jimmy, Jenna, Diana!" Centipede cheered for us.

"Good show James, Jenna, and Diana! The city awaits us!" Mr. Grasshopper said feeling proud of us.

Miss Spider walked over to us and took off Centipede's hat and handed it over to Centipede.

"Now remember James," she said to the boy as she straightened his tie and shirt with her hand. "First impression is very important."

"We understand," I said. "Would they mind my arm?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't," Diana said. "But the only thing that does matter is that you look good. What about me?"

"Thanks," I said smiling. "You look good yourself."

All of a sudden, the wind blew harder and storm clouds were growing. James sprinted to the stem to steer the peach to make sure we didn't get blown off course. Diana, the others, and I tried to protect our selves from getting blown away by the wind. As James moved the stem, the wind picked up and the compass came off of the stem and fell downwards into the ocean.

"Oh no!" James cried and he tried to get the compass back, but he didn't grab it in time.

"The compass!" I cried.

"It's gone!" Diana cried.

"We'll be blown off course!" cried Mr. Grasshopper as the wind kept picking up.

"We'll wind up in Jersey!" cried Centipede.

"Or the Arctic!" Dragonfly cried.

Lightning flashed and they heard a roar, everyone turned around and saw the cloud and glowing yellow eyes appeared and my heart dropped like a rock to the pit of my stomach. My spine was frozen solid as ice.

"Could it be?" Asked Mr. Grasshopper as he stared at the cloud in shock.

"Is that the…?" Dragonfly muttered in fright.

"No, it couldn't be," Centipede said filled with fright.

"Is it really what we think it is?" Butterfly asked as her blue eyes were filled with fear.

"I'm afraid so," I said in fear as I hugged Diana.

The figure with the yellow eyes roared loudly.

"It's the rhino!" James cried.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Diana said.

The rhino charged at us. Lightning flashed making me jump. James knew that this time he has to help his friends avoid their fate with the rhino after what happened to his mother and father and it's time to face his worst fear right now.

"Oh James! Ladies! Do something!" cried Mrs. Ladybug trembling with fear.

"Everyone climb up into the rigging!" cried James. "Hurry!"

The others, especially Diana and I, climbed onto the stings the seagulls were attached to and hung on for dear life. We suddenly got scared when James stood there. And he ran down on the fence pathway.

"James!" Miss Spider called. "Are you not coming with us?"

"No!" James called to Miss Spider.

"What are ye doin' lad?" Dragonfly called.

"What is he going to do?" Butterfly mused tremulously. "You don't think he's going to do that?"

The boy ran down the fence pathway to stand up to the rhino.

"It got my mum and dad! It won't get my friends!" James reached the edge of the fence pathway edge and glared at the Rhino.

"Come out and show your face, you stupid beast!" James shouted.

The rhino roared angrily and charged out of the storm clouds. The bugs stared at the beast as lighting flashed from his horn.

"Good God Almighty!" Mr. Grasshopper cried as he stared at the monster in horror.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" Dragonfly yelled.

The rhino kept charging towards them and the boy cowered in fear. That thing was going to kill us! Just like it killed his parents!

"Remember what your parents said James!" the boy heard Earthworm and looked up. "Try looking at it another way!"

Earthworm was right, James thought for a moment and turned back to the rhino.

"You're not even a real rhino!" James yelled. "You're just at lot of smoke and noise!"

The rhino got so angry, he growled at him and got closer.

"I'm not afraid of you!" James yelled out to the rhino with courage.

" _I'm_ not afraid of you!" James yelled at him again.

The rhino was ready to snap and he got nearer to the peach.

"I'm not afraid of you!" James screamed at him one last time for the first time in forever.

Now the rhino lost his temper and he charged towards them and he shot lightning from his horn and shocked the fence pathway.

"I have to save him before he gets killed!" I cried and I let go of my strings and I ran down to save the boy.

"JENNA!" Dragonfly, Miss Spider and Mrs. Ladybug cried as they first noticed me getting off.

"Oh no!" Diana gasped, and she feared her very best friend was going to die. She let go of her strings and ran straight towards James and I.

"DIANA!" Butterfly, Centipede, and Mr. Grasshopper cried as they noticed her too.

We heard them, but we can't leave James alone and get him killed. We got to his side just in time. I held James's hand, and Diana grabbed my hand.

The fence pathway we were standing on suddenly flew, lightning flashed and it sliced the strings the bugs were on with the seagulls.

The others watched James, Diana, and I fall inside the peach as it fell towards the ground.

"JAMES! JENNA! DIANA!"

James, Diana, and I fell into the peach stone and James's tie and travel book flew away from him and my headband flew away as we kept falling.

"NOOOO!"

Then there was a thud!


	11. Arriving in New York

I came back to myself and noticed flashing red lights. I turned to James and shook him. Diana slowly sat up and rubbed her head.

After James woke up we coughed out the crocodile tongues.

"Are we dead?" I asked.

"I don't think so," said James. "But are you guys okay?"

"Yes, I think so," Diana said. "How about you Jenna?"

"Yes," I nodded.

In a moment, we looked at each other and we were back to our real forms.

"We're back to normal!" I cried.

"Yes!" Diana cried. "But where… are… the others? Oh no! What happened to them?"

James grew concerned and he crawled through the tunnel and we followed him.

"Miss Spider? Mr. Grasshopper?" he called. "

"Mr. Centipede? Miss Butterfly?" Diana called. "Earthworm?"

"Mrs. Ladybug?" I called. "Mr. Dragonfly? Glowworm? Where are you?"

"Hello? Is anybody there?" James called.

The boy opened the peach hole. He, Diana, and I came out and they both noticed the flashing red light.

We found some spider silk and tied it around our waists to prevent ourselves from falling. We looked over the edge of the peach and saw the cars moving and honking and bright lights. I slowly got dizzy from being in such a high place, and I had to sit down.

James looked into his travel book and frowned.

"This isn't right…" he said. "Where's the Empire State Building?"

"Yeah," Diana said. "Where are we?"

"It must be around here somewhere," I mused.

* * *

It turned out that we were right on top of the Empire State Building and since the peach went, right through the antenna. Peach juice started to pour downwards.

The juice landed on a lady wearing a white fur coat and she was walking her dog, causing her to scream.

A police chief was about to take a bite of an apple, and the liquid fell on him.

"What the…" the startled chief said as he looked up and saw the peach way on top of the Empire State Building and to him it looked like a round ball.

"Officer!" a little girl yelled from a window and she looked through her telescope. "There's a boy, and two girls up there!"

"What?" the dumbfounded police chief asked. "A boy? Two girls?"

He ran to the pay phone and dialed a number.

"Mabel! We got us a huge unidentified object here?"

"What's it look like?" Asked Mabel.

"Round, fuzzy… it sorta looks like a giant fruit or something."

"Well… what is it?" Mabel asked filled with disbelief.

"I don't know what it is!" He yelled. "Just send us the biggest crane in New York!"

* * *

After that, the biggest crane in New York City arrived and many people surrounded the huge crane and were very curious about the large object.

A bright light flashed on James, Diana, and I, we were both startled and a man was lowered down.

"Please sir, how do we get to the Empire State Building?" asked James.

"Where exactly are we?" I asked.

"You three are on top of it," the man said.

"I knew it!" Diana exclaimed.

"We made it!" James exclaimed and then his face was glum. "Well only my friends and I made it."

Diana and I looked at each other and sighed sadly. We tried to hold our emotions in.

 _If only the bugs were here to see this, they would have loved it too._

The man, at the crane helped James, Diana and I onto the hook. "Hang on."

As we were lowered down the crane also picked up the peach and lowered it onto the truck.

"Have you seen any big bugs tonight?" James asked.

"Big bugs?" Asked the man. "How big?"

"Well… our size," I said.

"But mostly, enormous," Diana said.

Police cars and fire trucks crowded the streets to know more about the peach filled with the sounds of sirens and flashing lights.

I was amazed by all of New York City, and Diana admired the view of the cars and buildings.

"I hope they're all right," James said sadly.

"I hope so too James," I said as I placed my hand on his back trying to comfort him.

"Same here," Diana said. We were filled with heartache for our bug friends.

As the peach was lowered onto the truck, the man lowered us down on the peach. A firefighter came up to us from a ladder.

"Don't worry you guys," he said. "You'll be all right."

"Come on sonny," he said gently. "Don't be afraid. I got you guys." He gently as he wrapped his arms around James, Diana, and I as he slowly climbed down the ladder.

"Stay away from those trucks," the chief shouted an order.

As the two firefighters lowered James, Diana, and I down, three reporters surrounded us and asked us many questions.

"What is this thing?"

"Where are you two from?"

"Why are you two here?"

"Who?"

"What?"

"Where?"

"When?"

"Why?"

"Hold your fire, fellas!" The police chief snapped. "He's just a boy for Pete's sake. And these two are just young girls."

"Here I got you guys," he turned to them and picked up James and placed him down. He also carried Diana and I down.

"It's okay, little guy," The police chief reassured us. "Nobody's gonna hurt you or your friends."

As we hoped things would get better, a car honked and when the crowd cleared up, a flat out car appeared and it was covered with seaweed. It was also surrounded with smoke and it came towards us.

Then the doors opened and seawater poured out with seaweed, and out came two women who were none other than James' aunts, Sponge and Spiker. Their make-up and clothes were ruined and Spiker removed some seaweed and Sponge flung away a crab from her hand.

"Oh crap," I muttered.

"No!" James's brown eyes widened in fear at the sight of his aunts again, and he thought he would escape from them for good.

"So those are your aunts," Diana said.

"Yes," the boy said.

I pushed James behind my back, and glared at them. We both gasped at Spiker and Sponge.

"Hello… little angel…" Sponge said as she snickered at him. "I see that you got new friends, they will have to leave soon."

"So kind of you to look after our little lost lambs and goat," Spiker said as she grinned at them.

Sponge blew kisses at them and we made grim faces.

"Who are you?" Asked the police chief.

"We are the boy's legal guardians," Spiker said as she pulled out the papers to show that she's telling the truth.

"We missed him so much," Sponge said.

"So we'll just take him home now," said Spiker

"And the peach, of course," Sponge said. "We're taking that as well."

"Well, wait a minute. Back up," the confused police chief said. "You mean to tell me that this thing is a peach?"

"It's not a peach," Spiker snapped. "It's _our_ peach."

"Our peach," agreed Sponge.

"Show him, Spongie," said Spiker.

"Yes," Sponge said as she took out a wet picture and showed it to the chief. It showed Sponge and Spiker smiling in their clothes on the day that the giant peach grew.

 _It was from that day…_ James mused. _When they were making money out of it._

"Looks like it's their peach, all right," said the police chief smiling.

"Yes! Yes!" Spiker said happily. "We're very proud of it."

"We're going to be in the record books," Sponge said grinning.

"It's not their peach," James spoke up. "The old man gave the green things to me. That's what made it grow, and in fact, Jenna and Diana received them as well, just like me."

"How dare you disagree with us?" Sponge said angrily.

"James has the right to disagree," I snapped. "Even Diana and I have the right to disagree as well!"

"You know damn well he is telling the truth!" Diana snapped.

Before Sponge could lose her temper, and get her hands on Jaelle. Spiker grabbed her arm.

"Patience sister. Remember his… condition. Perhaps the girls' have that condition too."

"Condition?" Asked the Chief.

"He's a chronic liar," Sponge said. "Especially the girls."

James, Diana, and I glared at Sponge and Spiker for being big far liars.

"Sad, really," said Spiker. "He needs his treatment, even the girls."

"Well, that's why we're here," said Sponge. "To bring him home. The girls should be on their way to find their treatment. So you come with us, eh lovie?"

As they came towards us, James, Diana, and I ran to the police chief.

We immediately hopped on top of the truck holding the peach.

"We're not the one's who're lying, they are!" James said to everyone.

"They're a bunch of cowards!" Diana said.

"I'll kick their asses," I threatened. Many people gasped at my swearing.

"As you can see, officer..." Spiker tried to control her temper. "It is urgent that release him to us immediately."

"Let the boy and the girls speak!" a voice shouted from the crowd as the crowd agreed with him.

This encouraged us.

"All right, all right, all right!" the chief yelled. "Let's get to the bottom of this. This thing is a peach. All right, I'll buy that. Now… does somebody wanna tell me how it got here?"

"We attached it to a hundred seagulls," said James.

"Seagulls?" Snickered Spiker.

The crowd started to laugh.

"Oh for God's sake it is the truth!" Diana snapped.

"That's what happened!" James said. "Me and Miss Spider, and the Centipede, and the Old Green Grasshopper…"

"Mrs. Ladybug, Earthworm, and Butterfly," Diana said.

"Dragonfly, and Glowworm," I said. "They are truly real!"

"I think they've gone mad!" Spiker said and the crowd laughed more.

"They're not believing us," I whispered to Diana and James, as tears were filling my eyes. I was gonna breakdown.

"I know Jenna," he said frowning.

"Why the Hell do you not believe us?" Diana shouted.

"Because this is all something you three have dreamed up," said Spiker.

"Well, maybe it started that way. As a dream," James said. "But doesn't everything? Those building, these lights, this whole city!"

"Of course," I said.

"Somebody had to dream about it first," James smiled at me. "And maybe that's what Jenna, Diana, and I did. We dreamed about coming here, but then we did it!"

"The poor boy needs his medicine," sighed Spiker.

"Even the girls," Sponge agreed. "So we'll just take him…"

"And the peach," Spiker said. "Back to our cozy little house on the hill."

She turned to us and smiled as she tried to grab James, "Come along. You are going home with us."

"No I'm not!" James snarled as he had enough of his aunts.

"Never!" I snapped at them as I had enough of them too.

"What did you two say?" Spiker glared as her skin cracked.

"She said, never!" Diana snapped. "You are not taking that poor boy!"

"I said… no… I'm… not!" James yelled. "I hated that house and that cold room and how I was always hungry!"

"All right, that's enough!" Spiker interrupted and she was ready to blow up.

"And how you beat me!" James yelled and everyone gasped.

"He's lying!" cried Sponge.

"No you're lying!" I screamed.

"And told me I was nothing!" snapped James.

"Shut up! Shut up!" the aunts yelled.

"No!" Diana snapped. "You're the ones who need to shut up! Idiots!"

"No! Not this time!" James. "My friends and I flew the giant peach across the ocean! We landed on top of the tallest building in the world! WE made it! Jenna, Diana, and I are not the ones who are nothing, YOU are! And I am never going with you! Not me, nor the peach!"

"You might as well accept the truth!" I yelled. "Because before we left with him and our friends, we saw you treating James badly! It made me sick to see you treating him as an object rather than a human being!"

"Exactly!" Diana shouted. "Because it appears we named the wrong liars, the only real liars we see, are YOU!"

I then blew a raspberry at them!

Spiker suddenly snapped at what we said.

"How dare you three speak to us this way?" She and Sponge grabbed two axes from the fire truck and immediately, I jumped to the top of the truck and she pulled James and Diana up. I hid them behind my back as I tried to protect them.

Sponge swung her axe and got it stuck in the front, and Spiker slammed her axe in the window and the chief got so scared that he blew the whistle to stop them and the people tried to grab the aunts, but the firemen kept them back and they realized that we were telling the truth.

As Diana and I blocked James, we heard a familiar voice from above, "James! Jenna! Diana! Up here!"


	12. Home

The crowd looked up and gasped what they saw up in the sky. A green light glowed in the sky and they heard the voices.

"Hello we're here!" Glowworm called.

"Hey buddies!" Centipede called.

"Hello laddie and lassies!" it was Dragonfly.

"We're coming to save you!" Miss Butterfly called.

Sponge and Spiker stared at the sky and wondered whom did those voices belong to.

"What are they?" Asked Sponge.

Only James, Diana, and I recognized the voices and our eyes lite up as we saw our bug friends coming down and they were hanging onto Miss Spider's strings with the seagulls. They were alive and well!

"Young James!" called Glowworm. "Jenna! Diana!"

"Hey Jimmy! Hey girls!" called Centipede as he waved to us.

" 'allo there!" Dragonfly waved his beret too.

"Bugs!" screamed Spiker.

"Need a little help down there?" Called Centipede.

"Giant bugs!" Screamed Sponge.

"Hey you old biddies!" Centipede yelled as he suck out his tongue and made a raspberry sound.

"Help us!" the aunts screamed as they hugged each other.

"Whoo-ee! Here we are, dears!" Mrs. Ladybug called as she waved.

"Hello James!" Called Earthworm. "Hello Jenna and Diana!"

"We'll be down soon!" Dragonfly called.

"We told you they we real!" James said smiling.

"Do you believe us now?" I asked the crowd giving a grin.

"We knew they'd come back!" Diana cried as she hugged me.

The crowd finally believed us as they saw the bugs coming down with their own eyes.

"Hello old boy and fair ladies!" called Mr. Grasshopper.

"Requesting clearance to land!" said Miss Spider.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Butterfly cried.

The bugs landed on the peach and they released the strings and the seagulls flew away freely. The crowd watched the giant bugs in shock and Sponge and Spiker stared at them too in shock.

"Miss Spider," James yelled. "Throw me a string!"

Miss Spider took out some string and tossed it to him and caught it immediately.

They both grinned and James threw the string around Sponge and Spiker. They both screamed in fear, it made me laugh to see them freak out.

"Okay, pull them up!" the boy yelled.

The bugs nodded and pulled Sponge and Spiker up until they met the bugs face to face. Just as James faced the Rhino before.

"Help!" Sponge yelled. "Where are we going?"

"That's revenge for what you did to poor James!" Diana said.

"Shame on you two!" I scolded them.

As they got right in front of our friends, James yelled to the bugs.

"Spin them around!"

Mr. Grasshopper, who was closer to the aunts, lied on his back and used his legs and kicked them hard.

"You little…" Spiker shouted as she and Sponge started to spin around faster.

"Keep on with the spinning Mr. Grasshopper!" I called to him.

Miss Spider tossed the string and threw it around Sponge and Spiker and they spinning increased that their hair fell off of their heads. It turned out they were wigs after all. That caused Miss Butterfly to laugh hard.

"Tighter! Tighter!" James yelled as the bugs did what he told them.

Finally the aunts were covered up in the string just like they were wrapped in a cocoon.

"One more thing," Dragonfly flew over and let out a few punches on the aunts as if they were punching bags.

"Well, Spiker and Sponge!" Butterfly said. "That's what you get for trying to kill me days ago!"

"Well, I'll be a…" the Chief said. "The kid was tellin' the truth." he then called out, "Get those two creeps outta here!"

The crane drove Spiker and Sponge away to prison as they screamed and were still wrapped up.

James, Diana, and I climbed the ladder and heard the crowd cheering.

Many reporters ran to the phone booths and called the presses.

"Stop the presses. I got a new front page. 'Big Bugs In The Big Apple'!"

"In big bold print, 'Little Lindies Fly Giant Peach'."

"'Half-Pint Heroes and Their Peach Pit Pals'."

James, Diana, and I smiled at the crowd and we were ready to introduce our friends.

"Everyone! These are our friends!" James called out. "The ones we've been telling you about. Mr. Centipede!"

The spotlight shone on him and he waved happily.

"Hi!" He climbed down the ladder.

"Old Green Grasshopper."

The spotlight shone on him.

"My pleasure," he bowed.

"Earthworm!" He did a pose as the light came on him and the crowd kept cheering.

"Mrs. Ladybug!"

"Charmed!" Mrs. Ladybug said as she showed off her wings in the spotlight.

"Miss Butterfly!"

"Bonjour my dears!" Butterfly spread her wings and flew up a few feet, causing the crowd to cheer louder.

"Mr. Dragonfly!"

" 'Allo!" Dragonfly to showed off his wings as the spotlight went on him with the cheering going on.

"Miss Spider!" She giggled as the light came onto her.

"And the Glowworm!"

"God bless the colonies!" Glowworm called, and Miss Spider turned her to the right direction.

"And let's not forget my friends," he pointed to us.

"Diana!"

The spotlight got on her and she waved and blew kisses.

"Hello!"

"And Jenna!"

The spotlight got on me and I gave a pose and waved.

"I feel so honored to be here!"

"Could we eat some of your peach? Asked a boy from the crowd.

"It won't keep forever," Centipede said as he grinned at James, Diana, and I.

"Go ahead!" he said.

Many kids in New York City gathered around the peach and started to eat it.

People threw confetti out of the windows as everyone cheered.

"Hey! What was your name?" A boy shouted out to James.

"It's James!"

The crowd cheered and I turned to Diana and hugged her! Suddenly music started to play and I felt where it was going too.

"You know Jenna," my friend said as we separated our hug. "Before we met, I was lonely and sad. But now that I met you, I suddenly felt a spark inside of me lit! I knew from that moment we would forever be best friends forever!"

"I felt the same way Diana," I said as tears of happiness trickled down my cheeks. "I never thought I could be so happy!"

Then I broke into song of a wonderful feeling!

 _When I think of home,_

 _I think of a place_

 _Where there's love overflowing_

Diana sang the next verse as we started to dance and the crowd cheered for us. Even the bugs and James smiled at our loving friendship.

 _I wish I was home,_

 _I wish I was back there_

 _With the things I been knowing_

 _Wind that makes the tall grass bend into leaning_

 _Suddenly the raindrops that fall have a meaning_

 _Sprinklin' the scene,_

 _Makes it all clean_

We kept climbing up the ladder and got to where our friends were and I took Dragonfly's hands, while Diana took Butterfly's. We both sang together.

 _Maybe there's a chance for me to go back there_

 _Now that I have some direction_

 _It would sure be nice to be back home_

 _Where there's love and affection_

The crowd started to cheer for us more, as Diana sang as she danced with Butterfly, and then with Centipede and Miss Spider.

 _And just maybe I can convince time to slow up_

 _Giving me enough time in my life to grow up_

 _Time be my friend, let me start again_

Dragonfly lifted me up in his arms and spun me around, and I felt the adrenaline course through my blood. I came up to Mrs. Ladybug and Earthworm. It was a good feeling and I then sang;

 _Suddenly my world has changed it's face_

 _But I still know where I'm going_

 _I have had my mind spun around in space_

 _And yet I've watched it growing_

Diana sang as she climbed down the ladder with James, and was smiling.

 _If you're list'ning God_

 _Please don't make it hard to know_

 _If we should believe in the things that we see_

 _Tell us, should we run away_

 _Should we try and stay_

 _Or would it be better just to let things be?_

I sang as Dragonfly set me down on my feet and I caught up with Diana and we held out hands in joy.

 _Living here, in this brand new world_

 _Might be a fantasy_

 _But it taught me to love_

 _So it's real, real to me_

Diana and I both sang together as we ran out to the crowd as they parted for us. I have never felt this happy in my entire life.

 _And I've learned_

 _That we must look inside our hearts_

 _To find a world full of love_

 _Like yours_

 _Like mine_

 _Like home..._

We held onto the last note for a long time, and after that, the whole crowd cheered and clapped for us. James and the bugs also did the same. Diana and I hugged closer, it was one of the best hugs we ever had.

We ran straight to James and the bugs and we got into a group hug! Now they were a family to us.

"We finally found our home!" I exclaimed.

"No one will ever reprimand us again," Diana said, knowing we had our freedom.

"No more sadness and judgment," James said smiling. "We are now a family!"

As soon as that moment happened, the peach pit was set up as a home in Central Park after all the children ate it. James, Diana, and I moved in with our new giant friends and they became our family.

This was the life, my friend and I deserved: love, attention, and happiness. Diana soon became a famous artist and showed her artwork to the world. I then started to sing opera at the Metropolitan Opera House and I began to sing for the audience and for leaders around the world.

The bugs pursued careers of their own dreams, and they were a complete success! After the adventure, James told the children about his story over and over again! And those who once had a miserable life, they must believe in hope and things will get better. Even for Diana and I.

* * *

The song, _Home_ is from the musical, "The Wiz" by Diana Ross.


End file.
